


Dragon's Home

by kracken



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Lemon, M/M, Mission Fic, Preventers (Gundam Wing), Relationship Issues, Threesome - M/M/M, Vacation, Yaoi, no one does maladjusted like a Gundam pilot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 11:41:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 34,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13880115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kracken/pseuds/kracken
Summary: After a Preventer mission, Heero and Duo ask Wu Fei to join them on a mini vacation by a lake, but he soon discovers that all is not what it seems between the two and that he has a totally unexpected role to play in saving their relationship.





	1. Finder's Keepers

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Dacia, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [A Little Piece of Gundam Wing](https://fanlore.org/wiki/A_Little_Piece_Of_Gundam_Wing), which closed in 2017. With Kracken's permission, I began manually importing her works to the AO3 as part of an Open Doors-approved project after July 2017.

He was doing it again. Wu Fei pretended to read the papers in front of him, but his eyes, under cover of his dark lashes, watched Duo Maxwell stretch like a lazy cat. He sat on the other side of the board room sized table from him, dressed, like Wu Fei, in a crisp, Preventer uniform, his green jacket tossed over the back of the empty chair next to him. He had his own stack of papers, but he seemed confident that he was prepared enough for the meeting with Une, and he wasn't bothering to look at them.  
  
At twenty, Duo Maxwell hadn't grown much taller or heavier, but his shoulders were not a boy's and his chest had broadened along with them. His face had lost the big cheeked roundness of youth, but he still retained a mischievous, almost impish, shape to it. He looked friendly and open. Something that Wu Fei did not, nor the sullen looking young man sitting on Duo's other side.  
  
Heero Yuy was reading over his own stack of papers, chocolate hair unruly and hanging in his face, dark blue eyes intense under dark brows, as if he dared the papers to have any mistakes. Still entirely focused, still entirely selfless, still entirely... not personable, friendly, or anything other than brutally blunt. Wu Fei was his twin, or almost. Heero lacked his volcanic temper and his intense sense of justice.  
  
Heero was completely unaware of Duo, or so he seemed. When Duo stretched out and yawned, slim neck arching back, shoulders flexing under the fabric of his shirt, strong hands reaching out and then fisting the air, he didn't so much as twitch a look Duo's way, unmoved by the display. Wu Fei was finding the same detachment elusive. Something about the powerful, graceful movement fascinated Wu Fei. It made him feel uncomfortable, slightly warm, slightly...  
  
Wu Fei lowered his eyes to his paperwork again. He was the last of the Dragon Clan. He was expected to find a suitable wife of the right standing, have heirs, and take his place as the head of his reconstituted clan. He might be allowed a concubine or a 'close companion' or two, but not until he had solidified his position. Not that he was considering it. Not that he was considering Duo Maxwell for...Wu Fei scowled, angry at himself for letting his thoughts wander into such ridiculous avenues. Besides, Duo Maxwell already belonged to someone, that someone being Heero Yuy.  
  
Wu Fei found himself considering that relationship, despite his best efforts not to. Before he had found out, before he had happened to hear something he wasn't supposed to in the handicapped stall of the Preventer bathroom, he would have scoffed at anyone suggesting that either Duo Maxwell or Heero Yuy were homosexual, or that they had chosen each other as companions. Wu Fei himself was completely circumspect, but Heero and Duo were role models for indifference. Wu Fei had never seen any behavior other than Heero Yuy ignoring Duo with sullen irritation, making mono syllabic responses, and Duo treating him as a challenged friend who needed encouragement in the friendly department. Duo might put a hand on Heero's shoulder, but tender looks, or any other touching, was nonexistent. They were partners, though, and they did work together with excellent results. When Wu Fei worked with them on occasion, he never had anything to complain about.  
  
Wu Fei tried to imagine the two of them having sex. The image refused to materialize, even though he had heard... He refused to blush, throttling the bodily reaction with a ruthless application of fingernails to his arm under the table.  
  
"Want some?" Duo asked suddenly and Wu Fei started, giving that sentence an entirely different meaning, before seeing that Duo was holding a styrofoam cup of coffee and that Wu Fei had been glaring at it for, how long, he wasn't sure.  
  
"No," Wu Fei replied stiffly, not letting his thoughts touch his _expression.  
  
Duo grinned and his large eyes, with their odd purple tint, sparkled as he chuckled, "You two have GOT to relax! She isn't going to eat us!"  
  
Heero grunted sourly. "When she sees your hack job of a report, she may consider it," he said.  
  
Duo looked sideways at him, not losing his grin. "Maybe I don't know where all the commas go, but I know we did a good job on this mission and that's what she really cares about."  
  
"Your opinion," Heero retorted.  
  
"Yep," Duo agreed. He sipped at his coffee and then sat back in his chair. His head jerked sideways, just a tiny bit. He glared at Heero, who looked oblivious as he studied his report. When Duo pulled his very long, cinnamon colored, braid over his shoulder, away from Heero, Wu Fei guessed that Heero had tugged on it. It might have proven some intimacy between them if Duo hadn't looked so very angry about it. "Don't make me get ugly," he warned Heero. "Don't pull on my hair!"  
  
Heero just grunted.  
  
When Une entered the meeting room, Wu Fei brought himself to order, putting his mind back where it belonged, away from useless speculation about a young man who was, not only beneath consideration, because of the future mapped out for Wu Fei, but who was already the companion of the best agent in the Preventer ranks... after himself, of course.  
  
Une was tough, but fair. Wu Fei still felt 'grilled to well done' by the time she let them go with a few days leave to recover from their rigorous mission. Walking out of the room at last, his papers tucked under his arm, he was startled when Duo came up from behind him and draped an arm over his shoulders.  
  
"Hey, Wu Fei!" Duo said with a grin. "Me and Heero scored a crash pad by the lake. Vince from ballistics, broke up with his girlfriend and tossed me the reservations. There's boating, swimming, fishing....Whatever guys like you do, I'm sure they have it there. There's three rooms..."  
  
"Three?" Wu Fei said before he could think, wondering why a man with a girlfriend would have wanted that many.  
  
Duo explained with a shrug, "I guess she wanted her mother and sister to come along. That's what the fight was about."  
  
"I see." Wu Fei kept his voice almost chilly and his face unreadable. "After two weeks together on our mission, I fail to see why you would want me to come with you and Yuy."  
  
Duo made a face. "Because, we all have closets for rooms in Preventer central, where privacy, and peace and quiet, are non existent. Who the hell can relax there?"  
  
That made sense, the rest didn't. "You and Yuy don't want to be... alone?" That was as tactful as he could be.  
  
Duo blinked his purple eyes at him blankly and replied in confusion, "You had two weeks to get a load of Heero's sparkling personality. I think I'd like someone to talk to along for the ride. It was kind of nice during the mission."  
  
Wu Fei tried to remember having any lengthy conversations with Duo. He couldn't remember any. When they had talked, it was to address the mission, what to eat for meals, and to organize duties. Most of the mission had been spent taking turns observing the targets, apart from each other. They had only worked together when the final operation had been executed.  
  
Duo was right, though, about the noisy, confining rooms, that they had been assigned since the end of the war. Wu Fei had chosen to live there to escape having to face his duty until it was necessary and to stay close to the work he had grown to love. Heero and Duo had stayed because they had been underage, had refused guardians, and had wanted to continue in the Preventers as well. The thought of getting away for a rest, by a lake, perhaps to meditate and experience some peace... with Duo Maxwell, a deeply hidden, inner voice added... sounded very desirable just then.  
  
"I accept," Wu Fei replied at last and gave a small bow of his head.  
  
"Great!" Duo exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. The arm draped over Wu Fei's shoulders tightened briefly and then he was letting go and springing over to Heero to give him the good news. Wu Fei saw Heero listening with head bowed. He looked up when Duo was done and gave Wu Fei a long, unreadable, look from under his bangs, and then his _expression changed to one of... relief. That was the last thing Wu Fei had thought to see and it gave him something to think about as he returned to his room, emptied his duffel from the mission, and filled it with clean clothing for the trip.  
  
+  
  
They took Duo's jeep, open to the warm sun and wind. Dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a dark colored, high collar, shirt, Wu Fei sat in the back with their gear piled around him. Heero drove and Duo sat in the passenger seat next to him, testing Wu Fei's patience as he craned his neck to peer back at him, grinning from ear to ear and talking nonstop. Because of the wind, Wu Fei only heard half of what he was saying, but he didn't think that was too important, since Duo never slowed enough in his running monologue to give him time for a response. It seemed that Wu Fei was only required to look interested.  
  
Duo had a red baseball cap on backwards, his cinnamon bangs dancing wildly in his excited purple eyes. His shirt was white with blue sleeves, as tight as a second skin, and he wore a pair of jean shorts that hugged his ass. Wu Fei had found himself admiring Duo's lean, strong body, and the way his shirt enhanced his rounded shoulders, as much as he tried not to, before they had climbed into the jeep for the ride to the lake. Angry at himself, Wu Fei had once again promised himself that he would forget about any interest he had in the young man. Having Heero, sitting not an arms' length away, helped.   
  
A touch, Wu Fei thought, or even a look with some feeling from Heero, would have been enough to solidify his resolve to shelve his sexual attraction to Duo Maxwell, but Heero wasn't cooperating. Wu Fei had been celibate for some time, his career and his station, as the last of the dragon clan, requiring him to be above reproach in his conduct and in his choice of companions. Brief flings, or one night stands, were not something that he could honorably avail himself of, nor did he really want to, even if he were free to do so. It was part of his personality to be choosy, to seek pleasure where there was not only attraction, but also respect. It was understandable that, having deprived himself for so long, that his thoughts would be attracted to a handsome face and pleasing body. Duo had both in large measure.   
  
Orphan, thief, sweeper, Gundam pilot, and who knew what else in between, Duo talked in slang, was irreverent and loud, and seemed to have very little in the way of culture or formal education. On the surface, he seemed a boyish, wide eyed, innocent. Wu Fei, during the war, had made the mistake of accepting that veneer and indulging in contempt. He had learned rather quickly, fighting along side him, that there was another side to Duo. He was a genius, competent, thoughtful, and selfless. If he was honest with himself, Wu Fei had to admit an attraction to Duo that was also based on those qualities. Too many times, he had caught himself looking for them, trying to see past the talk and the smile to what lay just underneath.  
  
Heero suddenly reached out and pushed Duo back into his seat. He grumbled something Wu Fei didn't hear. Duo made a face at him, and then looked at Wu Fei apologetically, before he straightened in his seat and watched the scenery go by. Wu Fei surmised that Heero had chastised Duo for talking too much.  
  
Wu Fei felt a flick of anger burn along his spine. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Heero. Duo hadn't been bothering him. Wu Fei had been enjoying watching Duo's animated features as he talked. He might not have been so charitable if he had been forced to actually listen to Duo's entire monologue, but what little he had heard, hadn't seemed burdensome. Duo had mostly talked about the lake and some of the things they might do there.  
  
Wu Fei reached out and touched Duo's sleeve. Duo looked back at him, startled. 'Later' Wu Fei mouthed and Duo grinned and turned back to face the front again in a better mood. He might regret it, Wu Fei thought, but he had felt the need to rectify Heero's action on his behalf. No one spoke for him.  
  
It was a long drive, down winding roads, and deep into a forest. Duo consulted a map, giving clear directions that Heero followed wordlessly. They were displaying the teamwork that always impressed Wu Fei. They might seem mismatched and argumentive with one another, but, when it came down to accomplishing a task or a mission, they worked in perfect tandem. It had surprised Wu Fei, on their missions together, that they had accepted and worked well with him as well. Their two man team had easily opened to include him and he had found himself, not a third wheel, but an integral part of the team. He supposed that made sense. Duo's skills ran in one direction, Heero's another, and Wu Fei's in a third. They had blended and complimented each other, though, not run contrary or competed. Even Une had been impressed by the level of competence and professionalism in their last mission. In light of that, it seemed reasonable that Heero and Duo, who worked so well together, would choose to take advantage of that unity in their civilian life.  
  
Why didn't they show it, though? Wu Fei wondered. Being homosexual wasn't the taboo it had been, so Wu Fei couldn't imagine that they felt the need to hide a relationship. It occurred to Wu Fei that, maybe, a working relationship didn't translate well into a civilian one. Love, tenderness, the things that spoke between two people of their commitment and feelings for one another, weren't things that a person indulged in when life and death decisions had to be made.  
  
Was it just sex, then? When he looked at Heero's total absorption with the road, as if neither Duo or Wu Fei existed, Wu Fei could accept that, but when he watched Duo's fidgeting, his attempt to become a pretzel in his seat by putting his booted feet on the dashboard, his fiddling with his hair, and his lively and, yes, warm regard of their surroundings.... Wu Fei couldn't see someone with his strong, bold personality, his open and sparkling nature, either being subject to Yuy's loveless lust or indulging in it himself. He seemed too much a creature of emotions.  
  
There was a third explanation and it seemed plausible, that, being who they were, and isolated by their unique pasts and experiences, that their options for companions, who truly understood them and could accommodate their equally unique personalities, were confined to five people, five Gundam pilots. Two, Trowa and Quatre had already paired off. If Heero and Duo had paired off as well, then Wu Fei was where he had always expected to be in life, alone and sacrificing for his clan and it's future. Considering how his clan had sacrificed everything, including their lives, for his future, he thought his sacrifice insignificant and surely not too hard to bear.  
  
Heero pulled off the road at last and they suffered the bumping and jiggling of the vehicle as they took a smaller, gravel road to a clearing among the trees. There were four cabins scattered there, the lake sparkling beyond them.  
  
"Cabin three," Duo said as he looked at the reservation ticket.  
  
Heero grunted and then pulled in front of the correct one. They sat looking at it for a moment and then Duo was craning his neck to look at Wu Fei, eager for his opinion. "Great, right?"  
  
Wu Fei gave the area a critical eye. It was secluded and quiet. He could hear a soft wind in the tree tops and birdsong. The cabins themselves were simple wood structures, boxes with tin roofs, but they all had porches and large windows to allow them to experience the natural setting as much as possible.  
  
"Nice," Wu Fei replied and Duo beamed.  
  
They climbed out of the jeep and gathered up their bags, Duo talking the entire time. Heero moved slowly, eyes scanning the area as if it were enemy territory. He was dressed in camouflage pants with zipper pockets and a black tank top. He didn't look relaxed, he looked as if he was expecting orders for another mission at any moment.   
  
"A boat comes with the cabin rental," Duo was saying as he shouldered a pack. "Tomorrow, if you want to, we can take a ride around the lake, catch some sun, and maybe explore that island over there."  
  
Wu Fei nodded, liking that idea.  
  
"I read that there are eagles," Duo continued, not making any move for the front door. Heero finished unloading the rest of their bags while Duo launched into a story about each time, in his past, that he had seen eagles, how much he loved them, and how he was hoping to get some photos of them. He didn't talk in a hyperactive manner. He sounded paced and thoughtful. Some of his stories were amusing and interesting. Wu Fei didn't mind listening. Heero, though, lost patience.  
  
Heero opened the front door of the cabin, turned, grabbed Duo around the lower legs and slung him over one shoulder. He carried Duo inside in that manner while Wu Fei followed with a frown. When Duo was put back down on his feet, he grinned apologetically, not disturbed at all by Heero's treatment."Guess I talk too much," Duo said in a sheepish voice.  
  
Heero didn't agree, but he didn't disagree either. He didn't say anything, already walking away to explore the cabin. Wu Fei felt the need to say, "I suppose you don't have very many chances to talk around Heero."  
  
Duo chuckled. "Well, I actually do, but... he never knows what to say back. He's a thinker, not a talker."  
  
"A man of action," Wu Fei said and Duo nodded and smiled... fondly... over at where Heero was emerging from one of the bedrooms.  
  
Wu Fei felt the sting of disappointment. He had been secretly hoping, up until that moment, that he was wrong about their relationship. He called himself a fool as he picked up his bags and claimed a bedroom. "This one's mine."  
  
Duo peered inside curiously. "Why?"  
  
"He likes to exercise with the rising sun, "Heero said almost gruffly as he picked over their own bags. "There's a window in that room that faces in that direction."  
  
"Oh," Duo replied  
  
Wu Fei stared, surprised and yet not surprised that Heero had observed that about him. A soldier was supposed to make note of the habits, strengths, and weaknesses of his fellow soldiers. "Yes," he confirmed. "That's right."  
  
Heero smirked at him and that was another surprise. It wasn't malicious or condescending, it was Heero being honestly amused by his own knowledge of Wu Fei's habits. It made Wu Fei re-evaluate. Heero hadn't noticed because they were soldiers, he decided. Heero had noticed out of curiosity and interest in Wu Fei himself.  
  
"Heero's a people watcher," Duo sighed as if it were a point of long suffering on his part. "Almost stalkerish, if you ask me."  
  
Heero put a hand on Duo's shoulder and gave him a small push so that he lost his balance. "Get the bags. Talk later."  
  
Duo scowled as he righted himself. "And who died and made you boss?"  
  
Heero didn't argue back, he simply said in a reassuring tone, "There will be time, Duo, later."  
  
Duo's scowl smoothed out and he nodded. "Okay, let's unpack."  
  
Wu Fei tried not to watch them, tried to kill the traitor thoughts that wanted them to go into separate rooms. Duo didn't give him the luxury of prolonging his ignorance. "Uh, Wu Fei, me and Heero... " He looked embarrassed and rubbed the back of his neck as he searched for the right words. "We're sharing a room... you know?" He watched Wu Fei's face for his reaction as he added, "I guess I should have said something before now, but... I really did want you to come on this trip... sorry... does it bug you?"  
  
"No, not at all,"Wu Fei replied. " It makes sense, that you're a couple."  
  
Duo snorted, "You think so?" He looked amused and then gave him a keen, searching look. "Are you sure you aren't bothered?"  
  
"No," Wu Fei assured him.   
  
"You don't need to worry," Heero told Duo quietly, "Wu Fei is homosexual, too."  
  
Wu Fei felt his temper rise to the occasion. Nostrils flaring, he demanded, "And how do you know that?"  
  
Heero actually laughed lightly as he took up some of their bags and began walking towards the second room, "It's obvious that we share an interest in common."  
  
Wu Fei felt his gut go cold. Heero knew!  
  
Duo was looking confused. "What are you talking about?" he was asking as he followed Heero, but Heero didn't answer him.  
  
Wu Fei felt his face get very hot. If Heero knew... he hadn't looked angry, but perhaps he had just marked his territory in a very subtle way. Heero knew Wu Fei was homosexual and he knew he was interested in Duo. Wasn't that as good as saying that he was now watching Wu Fei for any moves towards Duo? That he was now on guard against him?  
  
Wu Fei went into his room and closed the door. There was a single bed with a quilt bedspread. Tossing his bag onto the end of it, he stretched out on top of the quilt, on his back, and felt anxiety string his nerves tight. He had come on the trip for a chance to relax and come down from a mission high. A fire fight would be less stressful, he though sourly.  
  
"Duo is definitely off limits," Wu Fei growled softly at himself and hoped that his libido, and the foolish part of his brain that was finding Duo interesting, would now, finally, understand that reality would never see Duo Maxwell as a part of his life.  
  
There was a knock on his door.   
  
"Yes?" Wu Fei called.  
  
Duo opened the door and peeked in cautiously. "We should leave around seven tomorrow, get out before it gets too hot, okay?"  
  
Wu Fei searched for an excuse, "Duo, I-"  
  
Duo looked instantly disappointed. "Oh," he said, guessing what Wu Fei was going to say, "You want to rest... that's why you came. I'm being stupid. Heero says I should listen instead of talk sometimes..."  
  
"And he should talk instead of listen sometimes too," Wu Fei found himself replying.  
  
Duo cocked his head sideways and said, "Yeah, he knows.... You're good at figuring things out... life, I mean. That's why I wanted to talk to you. " He shrugged self deprecatingly. "You relax, though. Maybe, another time, we can talk about things."  
  
Wu Fei could sense a great deal going on under the surface of their conversation. He suddenly felt that his next decision was very important and that he needed to make the right one. "I wanted to say ...that, I get up early, so seven is not a problem."  
  
Duo seemed frozen and then he grinned. "All right! I'll get everything ready tonight so we can just walk out of here when we get up." He started to leave, but then paused, "Dinner's at six, hope you like spaghetti?" When Wu Fei nodded, Duo looked so pleased and excited, that Wu Fei didn't mind the lie.


	2. Quiet Time

"This is good," Wu Fei said after eating a mouthful of spaghetti, and meant it.  
  
Duo grinned and nudged Heero in the ribs, as if that had been some bone of contention between them. "See, nobody can resist Maxwell's patented Spaghetti sauce."  
  
It wasn't overly full of garlic, which was Wu Fei's main complaint about spaghetti. It was sweet, with oregano giving it a full bodied flavor that complimented the long noodles.  
  
Sitting around the small, wooden table, Heero and Duo sat beside each other and Wu Fei sat opposite them. Heero had been quiet throughout the remainder of the day, but Duo had talked, laughed, and made Wu Fei feel at home as he put things away and discovered what supplies came with the cabin rental. Duo filled the cabin with life, Wu Fei thought, and wondered what it would be like with only Heero and himself.... very quiet and very... serious, he surmised. He couldn't imagine the two of them making that place anything more than a overlarge hotel room.  
  
Wu Fei was traditional enough to consider 'homemaking' a feminine role. Maxwell was anything but feminine as he took control of the cabin. He 'claimed' it, pouring personal items out of their bags and placing them in their proper places with the single minded determination of a man planting a flag on top of a mountain. He cooked with broad motions and the air of a short order cook. He ordered them about while he cooked, having Heero check the gas connections and the plumbing, while he had Wu Fei set the table, find where the laundry was, and make sure there was a place nearby where they could restock their supplies when necessary. It was if they were securing and mapping the area for a mission, Wu Fei thought. Old habits died hard.  
  
Heero followed his orders with quiet enthusiasm. He liked knowing that everything was working, safe, and secure. Wu Fei had to admit that he liked it as well, and liked knowing who and what was around them. He had even taken the time to check the other cabins. There was one family in the cabin closest to the lake and the rest were empty. Being a man who enjoyed his privacy, he was rather relieved to know that they would be enjoying some seclusion.  
  
"I wasn't aware that you could cook," Wu Fei said after another bite of spaghetti.  
  
Duo leaned, chin on fist, and looked at him as if he were totally enjoying that Wu Fei was enjoying his food. "The sweepers had a communal kitchen. Everyone took their turn, even a Gundam pilot in training. Since they didn't want me to poison them, they taught me some simple dishes. I can make rice and chicken, fry chicken, and make a mean lasagne. My specialty, though, is ordering pizza, so don't expect a lot."  
  
Wu Fei found himself laughing.  
  
"Do I get an award for getting Chang Wu Fei to laugh?" Duo asked teasingly.  
  
Wu Fei felt some embarrassment as he quieted and began eating again. He looked at Heero out of the corner of his eye, wondering what Heero was making of their conversation. He saw Heero looking... frustrated... before his expression went sullen again and he was eating his food as if they didn't exist. Frustrated. Wu Fei tried to understand that expression. He remembered Duo's words then, that Heero just didn't know what to say. Maybe there was more to that than Wu Fei had thought. Maybe Heero wasn't silent by choice.  
  
Wu Fei decided to test that theory. "Heero," he said and Heero looked up at him as if the last thing he had expected was for Wu Fei to talk to him. "Were the gas connections all right? In an old building like this, I would be afraid of leaks."  
  
Heero looked relieved and eager as he launched into a detailed description of the system, the type of pipes, the likely hood of malfunction, and a contingency plan in case they did. He was animated, relaxed, and informative. Wu Fei found that he didn't mind listening, and that he was almost as eager as Heero to know that everything was orderly and taken care of.  
  
Duo began yawning and rolling his eyes half way through Heero's report. He silently picked up the plates and dumped them into the sink, squirting dishwashing liquid on them and turning on the tap. The pipes groaned. He muttered, "You said it."  
  
As he washed, Wu Fei told Heero about his own discoveries about their surroundings and Heero listened intently and asked pointed, intelligent questions. He was... enjoying himself. Wu Fei was enjoying himself as well and he found himself looking at Heero Yuy with new eyes. He discarded his impression of the wooden, cold, unresponsive Heero and replaced it with a rather socially inept one who had a mind that worked on a level that most people couldn't identify with... including Duo.  
  
A towel hit Wu Fei in the back of the head. "Dry," Duo ordered as he shook the water off of his hands and sat down at the table again. His grin took the roughness out of the order and made it good natured. Wu Fei rose with the towel in hand and nodded, accepting the duty.  
  
His back turned as he began drying the dishes in the rack, he heard silence behind him, silence only punctuated by the drumming of Duo's fingers on the tabletop in a bored fashion. The drumming stopped abruptly and there was a small, indrawn breath. The silence stretched and then Duo chuckled in a way that was very warm and very... suggestive. It made Wu Fei's ears burn, wondering what they were doing and having some idea. It made his gut clench. He wouldn't acknowledge jealousy; refused it. He buried it under cool observation. Perhaps Heero and Duo couldn't find conversational common ground, but, physically, they seemed to have. A superior, affronted, voice inside of him, was sagely predicting doom for any relationship based on the physical alone. A selfish voice was gleeful, wondering when it would collapse and he would have his chance with Duo. A logical voice shouted down the others and made him say, "I'm finished here. I think I'll retire early."  
  
Wu Fei's feet took him to his room and his eyes refused to see what Heero and Duo were doing, whether they had finally decided to touch, to show the affection that had been strangely lacking up until then. Wu Fei felt childish, but, he thought, if he didn't see it, then he didn't have to acknowledge that it had happened. He should have known that Duo wouldn't let him go that easily.  
  
"Hey, Chang..." Duo said apologetically as he touched his arm. Wu Fei felt warmth spread all through his body from that touch as Duo continued, "Hope we didn't make you feel weird, or anything? Heero said we had to be considerate and not get too... you know... guess I couldn't resist a little footsie. Sometimes, I just have to make that man smile any way I can. He can be..."  
  
"It's all right," Wu Fei assured him."Don't feel that you need to accommodate my feelings, especially since I am not offended by your relationship."  
  
Duo didn't sound convinced, but he replied, "Okay... thanks... uhm...well... see you in the morning."  
  
"I'm sure that we will all have a good outing tomorrow," Wu Fei said politely.  
  
Duo replied sheepishly, "Actually, it's just going to be you and me. Heero wants to sleep in the first day." Seeing Wu Fei's confused _expression, he explained, "He pushes himself too hard during missions. He missed a lot of sleep on the last one. He'll be awake and ready to fish, hike, or whatever, day after tomorrow."  
  
Wu Fei nodded his understanding and then went into his room, mind churning. Closing the door behind him, he leaned against it and realized, without a doubt, that Duo had purposefully orchestrated the trip, together, without Heero. What that meant, he wasn't sure. What Heero thought about it, he couldn't guess.  
  
Wu Fei could hear Duo and Heero talking in low voices, not aware that he was pressed against the door.  
  
"It'll be okay," Duo said.  
  
"If you're sure," Heero replied.  
  
Duo laughed softly. "If I can't talk to Chang, then I can't talk to anyone. He'll understand."  
  
"If he hurts you..." Heero's growl was dangerous.  
  
"He won't," Duo said and there was a needy tone to his voice that made Wu Fei imagine him leaning against Heero's strength.  
  
They walked to their own room and Wu Fei heard the door close. He was left, confused, wondering just what the hell was really going on.  
  
+  
  
The sun was just touching the edge of the lake, sparkling across it like red jewels, when Wu Fei sat up the next morning in bed, did some deep some breathing exercises, and then a very short run of stretching. When Duo finally knocked softly on his door, he was dressed in shorts, a blue tshirt, and a pair of old tennis shoes, ready for the trip.  
  
Duo was dressed in a pair of khaki shorts with many pockets, and a pair of deck shoes without socks. He wore a red tank top, but he had a black windbreaker over that , and was wearing his baseball cap. He held out a tan one to Wu Fei with the Preventer logo on the front. "The sun gets pretty intense on the water. You'll need this."  
  
Wu Fei nodded and put it on. Duo eyed him with a smile. "I've never seen you look so, casual." Wu Fei had the feeling that he had been about to say 'normal' but his usual, oriental style clothing, wasn't abnormal from someone from L5. He decided not to be offended and simply thanked Duo. It wouldn't have been good to start the day angry, especially when he was hoping that Duo would enlighten him about the conversation that he had overheard the night before.  
  
"I packed everything by the door last night," Duo told him as they went to the small pile of gear in the living room. "There's some food; sandwiches, drinks, and protein bars. I'm also bringing a first aid kit, some fishing equipment in case you feel like that, and a map of the island in case you want to explore."  
  
He bent to pick up the small cooler and Wu Fei saw the snub nosed gun, in its butt holster, at the small of Duo's back as his windbreaker lifted up. Wu Fei felt a moment of shock. He would expect something like that from Heero, who always liked to be prepared, and even himself, if his own body hadn't been trained to be such a deadly weapon on its own, but fun loving Duo... He had seemed the type to drop anything to do with missions, work, and something as serious as a weapon, at the first opportunity. It spoke to Wu Fei of some level of insecurity, that Duo thought that he needed it on a boating trip during a vacation.  
  
Wu Fei kept his discovery to himself. It wasn't unheard of for agents to carry their weapons at all times and it certainly wasn't breaking any rules. He picked up his share of the gear and quietly followed Duo out of the cabin, leaving Heero behind, presumably sleeping.  
  
There was a little dog on the porch of the cabin containing the family. It perked ears and Wu Fei winced as they neared it, expecting it to bark. Instead, it bolted off of the porch and raced to Duo. It was a little brown, scruffy creature with bright black eyes. It stared at Duo expectantly, even trembling in anticipation.  
  
Duo grinned and said softly, "Okay, okay, I got your treat right here, boy." He fed the dog a few pieces of what looked like bacon. The dog gobbled them up, wiggled in ecstasy as Duo gave him a pat on the head, and then watched them go quietly as they proceeded toward the lake.  
  
"Old street trick," Duo told Wu Fei with a light chuckle."Always make friends with the dogs. Never know when you need to sneak past them or keep them from tearing you a new one when someone sets them on you."  
  
"Did you sleep at all last night?" Wu Fei wondered, mentally cataloging everything Duo had accomplished.  
  
Duo shrugged. "I never have needed a lot of sleep. Comes in handy."  
  
There was a small boat bobbing at the end of the dock. The light was making everything red and orange as the sun rose higher. There wasn't any mist hanging on the lake. It was going to be a warm, clear day. A duck winged past them, calling loudly.  
  
Duo stepped into the boat like an expert and began checking to make sure that nothing had been disturbed during the night. Wu Fei made note of the life vests, but neither of them moved to put them on. They were bulky and constricting and they both still had enough of the soldier mind set to want to avoid that. Wu Fei checked the gas in the main tank and the reserve, opening them up and smelling briefly to make sure they hadn't been tampered with. Duo was checking the motor, his fingers getting quickly full of grease as he checked the connections and the plugs.  
  
"Ready?" Duo asked as he finished and wiped his fingers on a rag stowed there.  
  
"When you are," Wu Fei replied as he took a seat at the center of the boat and faced forward.  
  
"All right." Duo cast off the line that attached them to the dock and then started the engine. It was surprisingly quiet, a special model specifically designed for hunters and fishermen. Wu Fei appreciated it as Duo pulled away from the dock and took off along the shore of the lake at a slow speed.  
  
"Let's watch the sun rise," Wu Fei called back to Duo.  
  
Duo nodded. He cleared a strand of rocks and then swerved to take the boat out onto the lake. When he reached a clear view of the horizon and the sun streaming towards them, he stopped the boat and dropped the anchor.  
  
Wu Fei watched the light rise and change colors, loving the power and beauty. Duo was quiet, sitting behind him. When the sun reached a certain point, the sky turning blue and the light changing to yellow and white, Duo broke the silence.  
  
"Wu Fei.... can I talk to you about something... personal?"  
  
Wu Fei suddenly lost his tranquility. He decided that not turning towards Duo was the best course of action. Duo sounded as if he were nervous, almost reluctant. Keeping his back to Duo might give him confidence, the atmosphere of a confessional. "You can always talk to me," Wu Fei replied. "We've all been through a lot. We can understand each other better than anyone else."  
  
"Yeah, exactly!" Duo said excitedly. "That's how I feel... that's why I thought you might... give me some advice."  
  
"I would be happy to," Wu Fei told him reassuringly.  
  
"Okay..." Duo paused and they sat in silence so long that Wu Fei began to think that he had changed his mind. Finally, though, Duo said slowly, "It's.... Well... Have you... Have you had any problem, since the war... letting yourself..." He struggled for the words to express something difficult for him, "get close to other people?" he finished in sudden rush.  
  
Wu Fei thought that he understood and he was sympathetic. "I'm not very good with people," he admitted. "I've had my share of adjusting... to civilian life. It's been hard... trusting."  
  
"But...," Duo cleared his throat and tried again, "Do you have trouble relaxing, letting people...get in your space? I mean, you can reach out and touch them when you want to, but when they want close... like use a weapon close... or... or get in your line of sight close... you get all... bothered?"  
  
Wu Fei frowned, understanding the distance between Duo and Heero then. If Heero felt paranoid, or threatened, having someone close enough to interfere with a defensive or offensive action on his part, then it would explain their lack of touching or being close to each other.  
  
"Do you have trouble... sleeping?" Duo continued, "with other people... letting them inside your radar even when..."  
  
Wu Fei broke in, deciding to spare him the struggle. "Duo, have you discussed getting a psychiatrist for Heero, someone to help him through his soldier's defensiveness?"  
  
Duo laughed. Wu Fei couldn't help turning and looking at him then. Duo was looking embarrassed and his laughter wasn't humorous, it was self deprecating and dark. "That's a good one, Chang... Heero has more control over himself than any man alive. He wouldn't let something, even his training, stop him from doing whatever he set his mind to. The problem, Chang... the problem is mine."


	3. Confidences

Wu Fei was incredulous. He recalled Duo being friendly with him, touching him, hanging an arm over his shoulders... he started to laugh. "This is a joke?"  
  
Duo frowned, but then he did laugh. "I wish it was, it'd be a good one."  
  
Wu Fei collected his thoughts and then he asked, "Heero... he doesn't have any problems?"  
  
Duo looked rueful, "Well aside from some wicked reflexes and a compulsion to make everything... efficient, orderly, and in working order... no, not really. That makes my problem even worse, though. He spent a life working one big 'mission'. He never got to have a lover, family, hugging, holding hands, kissing, sex... all of that. He wants it now. He wants to make up for lost time. I just find it hard..." Duo stared off across the water. A bird flew low and skimmed the water for small fish. "...relaxing; letting people be close to me, especially when I'm outside."  
  
"And you think I can help?" Wu Fei wondered.  
  
Duo looked at him then, frowning. "Yeah, I do think you can, if you want to. Quatre, he's so open, he's a walking hug orgy. Trowa, he's standoffish and quiet, but Quatre tells me he can be friendly and close when he wants to. You... you're cool and together. You might have a bad temper and like to be alone, but... I can tell you've figured a lot of things out about life... You were a scholar too... I'm just saying, I think I have more of a chance of you figuring me out than some psychiatrist who's never seen either end of a gun."  
  
"Ah..." Wu Fei though for several very long minutes and then he nodded. "I won't promise anything, of course, but I will try to divine your problem." He added dutifully, "I don't have many things pertaining to life 'figured out', Duo, but, just as you said, two people, with like experiences, might understand where someone else wouldn't."   
  
Duo looked relieved. "Good.... uh, what do you want to know?"  
  
"I want clarification," Wu Fei replied. "But we came here to enjoy the lake, as well as talk about your difficulties, correct?"  
  
"Yeah, sorry... I guess I'm spoiling things," Duo apologized.  
  
"We can do both," Wu Fei told assured. "I don't intend to make any early guesses without asking you questions. We can explore the lake while I do that."  
  
Duo grinned. "Great! Should I go once around the lake first?"  
  
Wu Fei nodded. "And then I would like to explore the island."  
  
"Okay with me. Let's go!" Duo agreed with enthusiasm and then started the engine and steered the boat to follow the shore.  
  
They couldn't talk over the engine without difficulty, so they spent a long while in their own thoughts, Duo probably wondering what Wu Fei was thinking and Wu Fei not certain what to think. It was still hard to grasp that friendly, outgoing, Duo Maxwell was having trust issues. But, having thought that, he wondered if that were really the root of the problem. He knew Duo's basic history, knew some of the missions he had run, and knew, first hand, what he had experienced the few times that they had been captured together by Oz. He had even almost died with him once, by slow suffocation in a holding cell. There was certainly more than enough fodder to create issues in anyone. Because of that, it would have been easy to dismiss Duo's problem as post war syndrome. Wu Fei had seen enough men and women, who still couldn't put their back to a door or hear a loud noise, without expecting an attack. Duo had seemed more resilient than that, though, he had never seemed so much a soldier as a young boy caught up in events. He'd never had a soldier's discipline, so it was difficult to imagine him having issues that related to it. The gun he was hiding under his windbreaker, though, that was contradictory and problematic.  
  
Wu Fei realized that his thoughts were going nowhere and he put a stop to it. He needed to ask Duo questions. Since he couldn't until they stopped the boat, there wasn't a better time to put it aside and simply enjoy himself.  
  
The shore was rocky and dotted with evergreens. The contrast was soothing, so was the black, glass like, surface of the lake. As the sun rose higher, they marveled at the more expensive homes on the lake, passed a dock with a general store and a pump for boat fuel, and saw some ramshackle cottages with tin roofs where children, chickens, and dogs played on areas too uphill and rough for developers. Then they were entering a section of the lake where the land bordering it was a preserve. Civilization was left behind and nature settled around them, quiet, tranquil, and-  
  
"Look! Look!" Duo shouted and cut the motor. His slim arm stuck itself past Wu Fei's nose to draw his attention to the sky up ahead. Wu Fei blinked. Two eagles were... dancing... That was the only to describe it. Wu Fei smiled in astonishment as the birds dove and braked, darted upwards, and then clutched at each other with their claws. They spun around each other, broke apart, and began the teasing dance again, all the while calling to each other. A digital camera clicked and whirled. Duo was frantically taking pictures. Wu Fei reached back after the tenth one and pulled the camera down.  
  
"You're missing it," Wu Fei told him. "Use your eyes, not your camera."  
  
Duo looked torn and then he smiled and nodded, eyes never leaving the birds. The dance ended when their boat drifted too close to the bird's nest, a great pile of sticks high on top of a broken tree. The male chittered a warning and swooped so close over their heads that Wu Fei swore that he could have reached up and touched it's underside.  
  
"Damn!" Duo said distinctly as he ducked. "Guess the show's over."  
  
Duo started the engine once more and, as he turned the boat towards the island, Wu Fei looked back and caught his serious expression. Both of them, he knew, were thinking that their time to relax was over.  
  
There was a small boat dock surrounded by cattails and lilies. The boat nosed through them and Wu Fei was ready to catch at a wooden post and hold them in place while Duo cut the engine. He tied off the boat and then held the boat steady while Wu Fei climbed out.  
  
The island was covered in forest and a man made path ran in several directions with clear, carved, wooden signs giving them directions and likely sights.  
  
"Hard or easy?" Duo asked as he pointed to the sign that listed the distance and difficulty level of each path. Then he smiled and looked like an imp. "Or we could just strike out on our own, off the beaten path?  
  
Wu Fei smiled back and shook his head. "Didn't we have enough of that already?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Duo pointed to the medium path. "Hard, but not too hard?"  
  
"Yes, that would be good," Wu Fei replied.  
  
Duo took the lead and Wu Fi noticed, as he followed him down the path, that Duo's eyes were roving the trees all around them in a pattern he was very familiar with.  
  
"Stand down, we're in safe territory," Wu Fei told them.  
  
Duo looked back at him, embarrassed, and Wu Fei saw his shoulders relax, but only marginally. "Guess there isn't much chance of enemies ambushing us in a park, right?"  
  
"I would say that we have a better chance of being struck by lightning, Maxwell," Wu Fei snorted lightly.  
  
Duo said dejectedly, as he began walking again, "See... this is part of my problem. War's over. Everyone's peaceful. I can't... let it go, not any of it."  
  
Wu Fei sprang on that last part of Duo's sentence. "Any of it?"  
  
Duo was quiet. Wu Fei gave him time, admiring the old trees, the flowering vines, and ferns growing all around them. At last, Duo said haltingly, "Well, you know I lived on the street?"  
  
"Yes, I do," Wu Fei replied, and then added reassuringly, in case Duo thought that he was judging him, "It isn't shameful, Duo."  
  
Duo made a noise, of relief? It was hard to determine with Duo's back to him. Wu Fei considered catching up, but then discarded the idea.  
  
"Being abandoned, being poor, being the victim of unfortunate circumstances, is not shameful," Wu Fei continued. "It does make your 'problem' more understandable, though. When, in your life, have you not had to be 'on guard?', Duo?"  
  
Duo snorted, but it was dark humor. "Never." He made a sound of exasperation. "Everyone thinks I'm hyperactive, that I can't stand still for two seconds. You probably think so too." Wu Fei considered that charge and then nodded. It was true."I just need to be clear," Duo continued, "ready for anything. When I know I'm safe, I can move in and be a buddy, be friendly, you know? I can't keep it up for long though... I have to check my area again, keep myself clear."  
  
"Are there places where you feel safe?" Wu Fei asked thoughtfully as he stopped and admired the way dew drops were sparkling on the fronds of a large fern.   
  
Duo stood beside him, rubbing at the back of his neck, staring at the fern as well, but not really seeing anything but his inner thoughts. "Cars, planes, shuttles, Gundams, ...bedrooms if I make sure the door is locked and the windows are bolted."  
  
"Any place where no one can reach you and attack you?" Wu Fei surmised.  
  
"Yeah," Duo replied simply. He reached out, gabbed the fern, and pulled it through his hand so that the leaves stripped off and dropped to the ground, totally unaware that Wu Fei had been admiring its beauty.   
  
"You know the problem," Wu Fei said to him. "Do you also know the solution?"  
  
Duo rolled eyes at him and rubbed his hand against his pants. "Trying to stop being an idiot and a wuss, didn't help. I'm up for any suggestions."   
  
"Wuss?" Wu Fei sighed at the mangled fern and began walking again. Duo followed him now.  
  
"Scared little shit," Duo clarified. "If I wasn't, I would be like everyone else, walking around without a care, not wondering if someone is out there putting a laser sight on my forehead."  
  
Wu Fei put a stop to that nonsense. "You were a Gundam pilot." That simple sentence said a great deal. A man, even a young man, had to have a disregard for his life to become a Gundam pilot and a terrorist, especially when he was one of only five against an entire military complex.  
  
"Then what is it?" Duo wondered acidly. "Heero doesn't know."  
  
Wu Fei replied guardedly, "I told you earlier that I wouldn't make any quick diagnosis, if any. Even if I do discover what your trouble is, I doubt that I have the expertise to offer any cure. My hope is to simply give you some groundwork, so that you can approach a psychiatrist with a better idea of what may be wrong."  
  
"No quick band-Aids?" Duo asked, sounding unhappy.  
  
Wu Fei stopped and looked back at him. Duo had his hands in the pockets of his windbreaker, head bowed, and bangs hiding his eyes. Standing still for once, quiet, but inwardly struggling with his problems, Wu Fei compared Duo to the fern covered in dew drops. Duo had a natural, masculine beauty. Unfortunately, like the fern, he could be destroyed and brought low just as easily.  
  
"No band-Aids," Wu Fei affirmed. "Heero will have to be more patient."  
  
Duo looked up, startled. "How did you-?"  
  
"We rarely see our own faults," Wu Fei replied.  
  
"I remind him of the war," Duo admitted quietly. "Over and over again, when he just wants to start over again and have the life everyone was keeping him from living. He wouldn't be so damned mission minded it I didn't make him that way."  
  
It was a painful admission. "That's enough for now," Wu Fei told him gently. "Let's enjoy the walk."  
  
Duo's unusual eyes regarded him as if he wanted to argue, but then he nodded. "Okay. Guess you need to think about stuff now..."  
  
"Yes," Wu Fei replied. He needed to think about Duo's life on the streets of L2, his life during the war, and his life in the Preventers. Duo was handing him an answer, but he still felt that Duo was holding some of it back. He suspected that the entire answer lay with a child that had survived abandonment on streets that had taken stronger men down.  
  
They walked the trail. Not in silence, Duo had a comment about everything they saw, but in a serenity that was usually only achieved surrounded by nature. In a womb of trees, ferns, and small wildlife, and far from all the stresses of 'civilization', Wu Fei felt his mind becoming calm and open. It was almost a state of blissful meditation. He tuned Duo out, let the young man's words flow over him as he reached for and achieved peace.  
  
There was a small, narrow bridge over a small inlet of water from the lake. Duo hung over the wooden railing, long braid trailing down as he excitedly pointed at a large turtle swimming lazily underneath.  
  
Wu Fei leaned to look as well and felt... older than Duo. He enjoyed things quietly, with studious attention, but Duo was all arms and legs, sparkling eyes, and smiling wonderment. He seemed like a boy with the body of a man, but Wu Fei wasn't fooled by that. Though Duo could put aside the burden of his past ,and the blood they had both spilled, it was still there, still shadowing the corners of his eyes. It wasn't Duo's youthful enthusiasm that was making him feel older, though, Wu Fei realized, but a sense of expectation coming from Duo. Duo assumed that Wu Fei was so much wiser than he was. Duo was expecting Wu Fei to be his councilor. The automatically put Wu Fei in the position of master or teacher, a role that carried with it a weight of responsibility. That responsibility inferred maturity and Wu Fei found himself, unconsciously, taking up that mantle.  
  
Duo scattered small pebbles in the water, raining them down on top of the tail end of the turtle. It scooted underwater hurriedly, trailing bubbles. Duo laughed. As Wu Fei followed him off of the bridge, and continued down the trail, the fundamental difference between himself and Duo was clear. Wu Fei liked to watch, experiencing life around him, visually and mentally. Duo liked to test the limits and experiment, never happy with leaving things as they were.  
  
The serene scene of a turtle, green moss growing on its back, easing through lilies, wasn't the pleasing image to Duo that it was for Wu Fei., it was an opportunity to stir things up, to experiment and effect his world. It told Wu Fei a great deal about how Duo thought of himself. A man who had grown up with confidence, with security, and with control over his environment, didn't have to challenge the world around him. Someone buffeted by the mean side of life, who had been helpless to effect anything, harbored anger, fear, and a need to fight back and define himself by his actions, did. Those feeling, and those needs, could manifest themselves in many ways, such as throwing pebbles at the beauty and power of nature, piloting a Gundam and cutting his enemies into pieces, or trying to control everything, including supposed enemies, in his personal space.  
  
Duo found a bench and sat down, blowing air through his bangs. He patted the seat beside him. "Take a rest?"  
  
Wu Fei nodded and sat down. A light wind was going through the upper branches of the trees. He found himself looking upward and admiring the thick canopy and the light that filtered through it.  
  
"You know you can tell me to shut up any time?" Duo said with a false laugh.  
  
Wu Fei studied Duo's face, seeing the uncertainty there in his eyes. He found himself smiling and he was sure it was the same warm smile that he had seen Heero give Duo. There was something about Duo that stirred the heart, a neediness that was so very endearing. "Yes, I do know," Wu Fei replied simply and then continued his observation of the tree tops.  
  
Duo was flustered. Wu Fei knew that he had wanted Wu Fei to declare his thoughts, but Duo hadn't expected Wu Fei to continue to be tolerant.  
  
"Heero tells you to shut up." Wu Fei said and it wasn't a question. He had heard Heero say it many times.  
  
"Yeah, but who can blame him?" Duo chuckled. "I bug the hell out of myself sometimes." Duo grimaced. "I don't want to set rules or anything, but try not to psychoanalyze Heero, okay? He's not the problem."  
  
"Are you sure?" Wu Fei asked skeptically.  
  
"Meaning?" Duo was looking irritated now and the shadows of blood and war in his eyes grew. Wu Fei knew that if he said anything else, he would be talking to that war, not to Duo Maxwell. He backed off.  
  
"All right," Wu Fei agreed, but he must not have sounded sincere enough. Duo felt the need to explain further.  
  
"Heero's only problem, was thinking that his life was expendable to achieve everyone else's happiness," Duo told Wu Fei and Wu Fei could hear in Duo's voice his hatred for the people who had made him think that."Now he understands that he's worth more as a Preventer agent, than as a corpse, and that he's allowed to clock out at the end of the day and enjoy his own life. Aside from some left over anal retentive compulsions, and me, he's a new man with a new life."  
  
Wu Fei doubted that, but he didn't say so. "Sometimes, people feed each other's problems and make them grow."  
  
"I make HIS grow." Duo agreed with that much and then stood up and started walking again, as if he wanted to leave that place and that conversation behind.  
  
Wu Fei followed, feeling that he had found a rotten spot in the shiny apple Duo was presenting him. Duo was covering up and trying to hold back from including Heero in solving his problem.  
  
"You can't," Wu Fei told him and Duo looked back at him, confused."I have to know everything, Duo, or this won't work. You can't spare Heero's feelings and you can't spare yourself embarrassment when it may cause my efforts to fail."  
  
Duo bowed his head and Wu Fei was afraid that he had overstepped some invisible 'line'. When Duo looked up again, he smiled. Wu Fei was unprepared for Duo to lean forward and hug him. Wu Fei froze as Duo's slim arms wrapped around him and his hard body pressed tight to Wu Fei's own. He smelled Duo's sweat, a clean, outdoor scent that was a mixture of lake, green things, and Duo's own scent, and a hint of... minty shaving cream, after shave? And then Duo was pulling back and looking uncertain again.   
  
"Sorry about that... I...," Duo rubbed the back of his neck, and then he smiled apologetically. "I just...You're right. I guess I'm protective when it comes to Heero. He's had enough shi- uh, stuff happen to him. I'm just... really happy that you didn't fall for my bullsh- my, uh, my temper."  
  
"We all have defenses, but that's part of the problem where you're concerned," Wu Fei told him seriously. "Heero is your partner and your closest friend. He's had more chance than anyone else to observe you, to see what might be wrong. To exclude him from my questioning is a recipe for failure."  
  
"Okay," Duo sighed and began walking again, shaking his head, "but you're going to find out that Heero knows more about the tensile strength of his Gundam's left tit than anything about my problems."  
  
Wu Fei felt a blush as he followed and tried to hide it with a calm, "He's a very observant man, Duo. I'm sure we'll find that isn't so."  
  
Duo made a noncommittal grunt and didn't reply. Wu Fei let the discussion go and sighed as nature settled its beauty and serenity over them again. Wu Fei wasn't looking at the stately trees though, or the red cardinals courting each other on a low branch, he was watching Duo's braid swing back and forth along the curve of his ass, and trying to capture, in memory, the exact scent of the man that his senses had been so briefly granted.


	4. Shadows

When their boat slipped up to the dock by the cabins towards evening, they found Heero leaning against one of the pilings, wearing a pair of old jeans and a faded red shirt. Three small children were arranged around him with fishing poles, and he was talking to them in a very serious manner as they fished.  
  
The motor cut out and Wu Fei tied the boat off. The children complained about the noise, but Heero calmed them with a few words and brought their attention back to their fishing. "The fish will come back. Patience. Silence. Concentration." The children nodded and looked as if he had handed them all very important missions.  
  
Wu Fei was astonished. He climbed from the boat and Heero smirked at him, probably knowing exactly what he was thinking, that a trained killer babysitting innocent children was a very unlikely sight.  
  
Two of the children were boys, who looked to be six or seven years old. The third child was a little girl, who, Wu Fei guessed, was about five years old. She wore a pink jumper and pigtails and her brown eyes were watching Heero's every move with unconcealed adoration.  
  
Duo secured the boat and stepped onto the dock as well. He gave Heero a little wave, as if he were ashamed of something, and said shortly, "Hey."  
  
Wu Fei saw Heero forget the children, forget him, and concentrate all of his attention on Duo. He felt dangerous and Wu Fei was suddenly glad that Duo was armed. Heero asked, in a very tense voice, " Is everything all right?"  
  
It was then that Wu Fei realized that the person who was in danger wasn't Duo. It was himself. He recalled the over herd conversation from the night before. Heero had warned of dire consequences if he should hurt Duo.  
  
Duo returned Heero's gaze, a warning of his own for Heero to calm down as he replied, "Wu Fei was great, Heero." He nodded to the children. "Later, okay?"  
  
Heero relaxed in relief and Wu Fei had a sudden image of Heero waking up and then walking down to the dock, taking up a post and determined to keep it until they returned. The children, he surmised, had been a distraction from boredom and anxiety.  
  
Heero turned back to the children and said his goodbyes. They looked very disappointed. The little girl, however, had found someone new to adore. She was walking up to Duo with a happy smile, hands outstretched to touch Duo's braid.   
  
"It's sooo pretty, " she said excitedly.  
  
Duo stepped back and kept her at a distance and, Wu Fei suspected, it wasn't out of fear that she would pull his hair. He was smiling at her, making it a joke, "Now, now, you're a very beautiful girl, but I'm already taken."  
  
The girl pouted. "You're married, mister?"  
  
"Yes," Duo told her, "Sorry about that."  
  
Her hands flexed as she eyed Duo's hair again. "Can I-"  
  
"Sorry, only my spouse can touch the hair," Duo laughed. "You'll have to stick to styling your doll's hair." There was a doll propped up near a tackle box. It's hair was adorned by an abundance of ribbons and hair clips.  
  
Duo's eyes gave their surroundings a once over and then he smiled at her again. "See you later, we gotta go. Heero?"  
  
Heero picked up a stringer of fish. When Wu Fei raised eyebrows at it he shrugged. "My payment for fishing lessons."  
  
"Hope someone knows what to do with them," Duo said, eying them dubiously as they walked back to the cabin. "I've never started from the point where they stopped breathing."  
  
The parents of the children were sitting in chairs facing the dock. The woman was a short blonde and the man looked like an executive even in his casual clothes.   
  
"Thank you for entertaining the children," the man said to Heero. "You're very good with them."  
  
"It was... interesting," Heero replied. Wu Fei winced inwardly and Duo rolled his eyes. The man really wasn't a very good conversationalist.  
  
The father looked confused for a moment and then he recovered. "I'm glad," was an even more awkward response, but it allowed them both to escape any further words.  
  
They continued to the cabin. A breeze was blowing briskly now and leaves swirled in the air all around them. A bird struggled inland, wings beating laboriously. That reminded Duo of the eagles and he began a long dialogue about them too Heero as Heero sat on the edge of the porch, took out a slim Bowie knife, and began cleaning the scales off the fish with expert ease. He seemed lost in the task and ignoring Duo, but he looked obediently when Duo showed him the birds on the screen of his digital camera and grunted in all the right places. He was listening, Wu Fei concluded. After finding a bucket for the scales and fish guts, and getting a pan for the cleaned fish, Wu Fei sat on the porch as well and watched the mismatched pair try to interact  
  
While Heero could manage to entertain children, he was less than entertaining to Duo, who seemed to border on frustrated after the sixth grunt. He wrinkled his nose at the fish and used that as an excuse to give up. "Think I'll go downwind. That stinks!" He walked towards Wu Fei and Wu Fei saw Heero's brows come together, a sign that he was disturbed by Duo's retreat, even though he never stopped cleaning the fish or said anything to stop him.  
  
Duo was checking their surroundings again, giving it a lot more time than at the dock. Wu Fei understood the difference. Heero had been alert and paying attention on the dock. Here, he was occupied and Duo must have felt that he was the one 'on point'. Wu Fei sighed. He wasn't a matchmaker or a 'marriage' councilor. Bringing two people together had never been a part of his studies. As Duo began talking about plans for the next day, Wu Fei tried to find the correct path, the best way to proceed with Duo's problem... a problem that had suddenly developed layers and another aspect, Heero Yuy. As much as Duo wanted to exclude him and believe that he wasn't part of the problem, Wu Fei had to disagree, strongly.   
  
Heero found it hard to speak, to keep up with Duo's rapid and eclectic conversations, Wu Fei thought. Heero wanted to take his time, to consider, and absorb. He couldn't respond to what he was still analyzing. Duo, it was obvious, was mistaking Heero's silence for disapproval, for disinterest. Couple that with Duo's need to be on guard and Heero's ingrained training...  
  
Wu Fei moved to face the 'yard' of the cabin and the lake beyond, even as he stepped closer to Heero. He took up a stance of someone observing everything closely and then said, going back to something Duo had said earlier and Heero would have had time to absorb and analyze, "Heero, do you know how to cook the fish?"   
  
Heero kept working, but he nodded. "Survival training."  
  
Too short, Wu Fei sighed in exasperation. "Duo, perhaps Heero could teach you how to cook them?" He looked at Duo only briefly and then returned his attention to their surroundings again. That at least was working. Duo was looking at Heero and Wu Fei now, trusting Wu Fei to keep watch.  
  
"That sounds good," Duo replied and he did look genuinely interested. 'I tried it once and it came out all... mushy."  
  
"Heero can show you what you did wrong," Wu Fei suggested. They both nodded and then Wu Fei picked another topic, the children. "You seemed to get along very well with those children, Heero. Why do you think that was?" Analyze and report.  
  
"Children are trusting," Heero replied thoughtfully and his knife actually paused as he considered it. "They like to be listened to. They like to learn as well. They didn't know how to fish, so I taught them. Their social skills are still developing. They didn't require a high level of... interaction. I could observe the lake without too much distraction."  
  
"You were watching for us?" Duo wanted to know. "I told you we'd be gone all day. You were suppose to be sleeping."  
  
Heero was quiet as he placed the last cleaned fish in the pan. Wu Fei felt the need to speak for him. "You were worried." Heero nodded and then stood up, as if embarrassed, and carried the fish into the cabin.  
  
Duo sighed and looked at Wu Fei apologetically. "Sorry about that. We really didn't know how you'd take everything."  
  
"Like a reasonable man, Duo, how else?" Wu Fei replied, almost offended.  
  
"Well, we aren't reasonable men ,so we imagined unreasonable reactions, " Duo explained. He smiled then and said, "Thanks... I could see you were trying to help just now."  
  
Wu Fei nodded grimly, "With a small degree of success."  
  
"Better than we've been getting by ourselves," Duo replied sourly.  
  
They both turned to go into the cabin after Heero. Wu Fei said, as he held the door for Duo. "Talk to Heero about the eagles again, later, and ask him what he thinks. I think he will be more responsive."  
  
Duo frowned, puzzled. "Later? Will he be in a better mood? He acted like I was talking about O ring seal specs... only he would have been more interested in that...."  
  
"Trust me," Wu Fei told him seriously.  
  
Duo smiled. "We both do. That's why we brought you along."  
  
Heero and Duo could work together. As Wu Fei sat on the simple couch and pretended to read a book, he watched the two in the 'kitchen' trying to fry the fish. He smelled butter and heard the sizzle as the fish began to fry.  
  
"The temperature has to be exact to sear them," Heero was saying. "Otherwise they absorb the butter and fall apart."  
  
"I got it," Duo replied as he turned the fish over in the pan. "You make rice and vegetables."  
  
Heero grunted agreement and began heating water.  
  
They worked together smoothly, exchanging information, assigning tasks, completing the mission of cooking dinner. They both looked serious and totally engaged in the task, two cogs in the same machine, Duo doing most of the talking and Heero interjecting only when there were questions or instructions to give. It seemed mismatched, but Wu Fei could see the harmony of it. Duo fed Heero a seemingly endless stream of information and observations while Heero absorbed it, analyzed it, and then offered his conclusions or his assistance. Together they moved to modify or continue with the task at hand.  
  
"Did the children catch all of these fish, Heero?" Wu Fei asked, experimenting, seeing what would happen if he threw a wrench into that harmony..  
  
Wu Fei saw the flow of work grow confused and then just stop as Heero considered the question. Duo backed into him, apologized, tried to turn and move around Heero, and then stumbled into him again when Heero stepped that way to get out of his way. They both stopped then, scowling at each other.  
  
"Heero, two's a crowd in a space like this. Sit and cut vegetables until I'm done frying, okay?" Duo told him irritably. Heero nodded and sat down. Duo returned to frying. When there was confusion, it was Duo who straightened things out, Wu Fei observed.  
  
"The children caught all of the fish," Heero answered Wu Fei as if there hadn't been any time lapse between the question and the answer, and then he took out a paring knife and began cutting the vegetables and tossing them into a bowl.  
  
Wu Fei stood up and joined them in the kitchen. He checked the water, saw that it was boiling, and then added the rice. Duo gave him a smile of thanks and, as he moved to turn the fish in the pan, his hip brushed against Wu Fei's in the tight space. Wu Fei felt an unexpected flush of heat from the contact. He tried to move away, but it happened two more times before Duo finished frying. He dipped when he stepped sideways, so it wasn't just a touch, but a gentle stroke along Wu Fei's hip. At first, Wu Fei suspected that Duo was doing it on purpose, but a glance found Duo totally engrossed in his task of cooking dinner.  
  
Wu Fei was relived when the rice finished cooking. He quickly emptied it into a bowl and then turned to put it on the table, hurrying to escape a situation in which his body was starting to betray him. He found Heero, still sitting at the table, looking from him to Duo with an unreadable and intense _expression. Wu Fei froze, despite himself, and then forced himself to continue his task as if unconcerned. He wasn't guilty of anything, he assured himself, except a case of normal physical reactions and Heero's scrutiny had worked as well as a cold shower where that was concerned.  
  
They sat down to eat and, though Heero seemed to relax as if he had decided not to be offended, Wu Fei still felt the prickling of guilt. These two men were his friends, friends who had asked for his help. He shouldn't feel anything for Duo except that friendship. Duo bent over to look for silverware in a drawer. His shorts tightened around his rounded ass and the mound between his legs was just visible. When he turned around with the forks in his hand, he stopped and blinked at them both.  
  
"You guys see something you like?" Duo wondered with a scowl, but he was clearly embarrassed too.  
  
Wu Fei looked over at Heero and saw that he had been admiring Duo's masculine attributes as well. The man smirked and returned his attention to his cut up vegetables. Duo snorted at Heero and then looked at Wu Fei. Wu Fei did his best to look inscrutable. He wasn't sure what to say, whether apologizing would only deepen his indiscretion . Duo decided to end the awkward silence.  
  
"Don't worry about it, Chang," that was said almost under Duo's breath as he sat down as well.  
  
They ate in near silence. When they were done, Wu Fei helped Heero with the dishes while Duo took the garbage out side. Wu Fei said cautiously, when he was sure Duo was out of hearing, "Forgive me."  
  
"Duo is very handsome," Heero replied, just as uncomfortable and tense."Sometimes, he doesn't realize that and... I'm sure he's finding it hard to remember that you are homosexual as well."  
  
"I'm here to help you," Wu Fei told him sincerely.  
  
Heero sighed. "Your friendship isn't in doubt, but I'm not sure this situation has a solution."  
  
"We've barely begun to discuss your difficulties," Wu Fei reminded him in exasperation. "There won't be any immediate solution."  
  
"Our partnership has never been a problem," Heero replied as he finished the last dish and handed it to Wu Fei, "but this distance Duo puts between us, our inability to communicate on a more intimate level..."  
  
Wu Fei replied as he dried the dish and put it away, "I've never known you to give up on a mission. This isn't any different."  
  
Heero frowned."It is different... It's Duo, and he deserves... more than this."  
  
Duo returned and Wu Fei was certain that he had taken his time on purpose to give them a chance to talk. He looked at them brightly, but then his frown matched Heero's when he saw their troubled looks. " Come on guys. If you're going to do the jealous thing, I'm packing and going back home." He glared at Heero. "So he stared at my ass, so what?"  
  
Wu Fei blushed as he quickly said, "No, it wasn't that, Duo."  
  
Duo looked confused and then embarrassed. "Oh, sorry, you two just looked... okay, forget about that. Why don't we light the fireplace and put our feet up?"  
  
Wu Fei nodded. Heero nodded as well. Duo sighed at their silence as he went to light the fireplace. When it was crackling warmly, he lowered the lights so that the flames made comforting colors and shadows over the walls, and then he stretched out on the couch in front of the fireplace. He patted the place beside him. "Come on, both of you."  
  
Wu Fei took a moment to lock front door before he joined him. He saw Duo's grateful look as he followed Heero to the couch and sat on Heero's other side as Heero settled by Duo. Duo put his feet in Heero's lap and rested back on couch pillows.  
  
The silence stretched as they watched the flames dancing in the fireplace, each lost to his own thoughts. Finally, Duo said in exasperation, "You know, I think we should have a long talk, right here, right now. Let's get this all out in the open where Wu Fei can hear it, okay Heero?"  
  
Wu Fei didn't expect Heero to comply. Their conversation by the kitchen sink had probably been hard enough for him. Confessions in firelight, in the company of his lover and a man who was a friend, but not a close confidant, was probably not the most ideal situation for him. Duo wasn't waiting for his reply, though.  
  
"I'll start," Duo said with the same air of a man facing a firing squad.  
  
"No, you won't," Wu Fei told him and Duo gaped at him, surprised. "We will talk, but not like this, not when we are all not in agreement.  
  
"Fei, we only have a little bit of time left," Duo complained.  
  
Wu Fei lifted a slim, dak eyebrow. "I will say to the both of you once more, I will not be pressured into making any sort of diagnosis of your problems. I do not expect that I will be able to accomplish anything by the end of our stay here. To expect such a thing is foolish and does not give your problems the seriousness they deserve."  
  
They were quiet, but Wu Fei could almost feel Heero's relief. Duo was frustrated, that was clear, but he bowed to Wu Fei's wisdom. "Okay," he said and then sighed and looked towards the fire dejectedly.  
  
"Do you love each other?" Wu Fei asked and felt a flush, uncomfortable with asking something so intimate.  
  
"Of course!" Duo replied at once, startled and looking at him in confusion, as if it were obvious. Heero gave a firm nod, but he was holding Duo's stocking feet in a tight grip, using that touch to express himself rather than words.  
  
Wu Fei looked at them, watching the glow of fire and shadow play over them both. Perhaps, they didn't show their love through interaction, verbally or in a more physical sense, but their unity was there like the glow of the firelight. It was warm and true and Wu Fei felt a pang of jealousy so strong he almost gasped. He was standing up instead, saying, as he struggled to keep his emotions off his face, "If you love each other, then it shouldn't be difficult for you to have patience. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to rest."  
  
Wu Fei heard them making responses, perhaps confused by his sudden departure, but he didn't reply as he went into his room and closed the door behind him. He sat stiffly on the bed, hands clasped tightly, mind in turmoil. He was just as confused, if not more so, than they were. His jealousy hadn't followed a path that he was familiar with. Instead of wanting to push Heero aside, instead of imagining himself in Heero's place, receiving Duo's love, he had imagined something even more intimate, even more confusing. He had imagined himself with them, closing the space between them on the couch and sharing what they had, being a part of it. He supposed it was because, on some level, he couldn't imagine that aura of emotion surviving without Heero and Duo generating it together. He couldn't imagine the same feelings gracing his union with Duo. It was his guilt and a sense of dishonor, a sense that he was betraying them, that made him think that, he supposed, but it didn't make that perception any less valid.  
  
"Fool," Wu Fei whispered harshly to himself and then composed himself to meditate, to purge those traitor thoughts from his mind so that he could help his friends, not destroy what they had.


	5. Building Blocks

"Is something wrong?" Wu Fei asked quietly, reluctantly disturbing the still moment as the sun slowly touched the lake with fingers of fire.  
  
Dressed in a light coat, over a wool sweater and a ragged pair of jeans, Duo's hair was half out of it's braid and he looked barely awake. Leaning against a piling on the end of the dock, his arms crossed over his chest, his _expression was troubled, at all odds with the tranquility of the mirror like lake and the soft mist dancing towards the lightening sky.  
  
Wu Fei brought the collar of his own coat up higher around his neck and then sank his hands into the warm softness of the pockets. He had been up already, doing his stretching exercises and meditating, when he'd heard the front door open and close. Going into the main room and looking out of a window, Wu Fei had seen Duo walking towards the lake in the dark. There had been something in the slumped shoulders and the bowed head that had alerted Wu Fei that the young man wasn't simply going to watch the sun rise. He had given Duo time to himself, finished his meditating, and then ventured out when the sun had begun rising, giving himself an excuse for his presence there.  
  
"It's too cold to swim," Duo replied.  
  
Wu Fei snorted at the weak diversion. "The sun will warm things up soon enough."He waited and then said, when Duo stayed silent, staring at the water, "I'm here to listen."  
  
Duo half smiled and then shrugged. "This is really... personal."  
  
"You can generalize," Wu Fei suggested.  
  
Duo nodded, sighed, and then said simply, "No lock on the bedroom window."  
  
"Ah." It was a clear explanation. Intimacy had been attempted and the room hadn't met Duo's security expectations. It told Wu Fei something else as well, that Duo was trying to keep things back, things that would show someone he respected how insecure he really was. It wasn't in his nature. He was a man who was open and unselfconscious in most of what he did. He faced the world bluntly, with a challenging grin and a fast tongue. Perhaps subtly wasn't a tactic to use on a man like that? Perhaps, Wu Fei thought, he needed to prod, to goad the real Duo Maxwell into telling him what he needed to know to help him?  
  
Wu Fei, very deliberately, moved to block Duo into the end corner of the dock, where he had chosen to watch the sunrise, and then reached out and took a firm hold on Duo's arm.  
  
"Wu Fei," Duo warned and uncrossed his arms as he tried to pull away.  
  
"Duo, it's time to tell me the truth," Wu Fei told him very gently as he applied more pressure, sinking his fingers into sinew so that pulling away would cause Duo pain.  
  
"Truth? What the hell-? Wu Fei..." Duo didn't want to hurt him. Wu Fei could see him struggling to both get away and control an impulse to strike out. He wasn't panicking. He was alarmed... alarmed about...  
  
Suddenly Duo stopped struggling, realizing that Wu Fei was an immovable rock, and he did something that surprised Wu Fei. He twisted and backed Wu Fei up against the wooden piling, facing outward as if he were shielding Wu Fei from some danger. Panting, he begged, "Please, Chang... let go."  
  
"You aren't protecting yourself," Wu Fei guessed with certainty. "You think that people will be hurt by being close to you."  
  
Wu Fei let Duo go and Duo stepped away, checking his surroundings even though the mist still obscured a great deal. A loon called, loud and mournful, and Duo jumped, his hand going to the back of his pants, where, Wu Fei suspected, he still had his gun.  
  
"Why?" Wu Fei asked. "Who is hunting you that you are so afraid?"  
  
"Life." Duo was almost panting with anxiety, but he calmed himself with an effort as he finished his check. "Life has it in for me, Chang, and anyone who gets close to me has died, with damned regularity."  
  
"We are at peace," Wu Fei argued.  
  
"Tell that to the hair trigger part of my brain," Duo growled. "You think I want to live like this? Always thinking I'm a target?"  
  
Wu Fei considered him, studied his anger, bitterness, and sense of helplessness, and then asked, "When did you first start feeling like this, like you had to keep people away from you?"  
  
Duo turned away from him and stood on the edge of the dock, staring out at the water as if he was considering jumping off and drowning himself. "I think... I know... back on L2, back when I was on the streets. I was an obnoxious little brat. I wanted attention, wanted the little kids to follow me like I followed Solo. I made like I knew everything and they ate it up. I pissed off the wrong person one day, a drunk soldier. He called me street scum and I flipped him off. He pulled out his semi-automatic and just started firing at me. Nick and Penny were with me. He shot them dead, just 'cuz they were with me." He shivered and then looked even angrier, brows coming down over seething amethyst eyes. "They were the first, but there were a lot of others... people who were just standing with me, close, when someone wanted to try and take me out."  
  
"You have made yourself responsible for something that wasn't your fault," Wu Fei surmised and Duo looked at him with wide eyes."You have made it your responsibility to keep everyone else safe."  
  
Duo thought hard about that and then he whispered shakily, "Yeah."  
  
Wu Fei felt relief, felt the world right itself without having realized that it had been off it's axis. Duo Maxwell wasn't afraid for himself. "You are not a coward," Wu Fei said, without realizing that he was saying it aloud.  
  
Duo bristled. "Fucking straight! Is that what you were thinking?"  
  
"Because of the information you have given me, it was a conclusion," Wu Fei explained and couldn't help giving Duo a small bow of apology. "I was finding it very difficult to believe."  
  
Duo looked chagrined and then guilty. "Sorry. I guess... I guess what you think of me means a lot more than... than I thought it would. It was too hard to tell you about it."  
  
"I understand," Wu Fei replied and then backed off, seeing how tense Duo was. He let the silence grow between them and then said, finally, "So, you wanted to swim today? I think I would like to do that as well."  
  
Duo eyed him and then grinned. "Is this my pat on the head for spilling my guts, you taking a swim in freezing water with me?"  
  
Wu Fei gave a single nod and found himself smiling as well.   
  
They walked back to the cabin together, Duo only stopping briefly to pat the small dog on the head, but he didn't linger. When they reached the cabin, Wu Fei said, "Allow me to make breakfast."  
  
Duo eyed him as he opened the door and waited for Wu Fei to proceed him. "Only if I don't get fish and rice."  
  
"Omelets?" Wu Fei suggested.  
  
"Sounds good." Duo flopped onto the couch and sighed as he stretched out.  
  
"Don't fall asleep," Wu Fei warned as he took out a small pan and placed it on the stove burner. "It won't keep."  
  
Duo yawned, but assured him, "I'm okay. Wish there was a vidscreen here, though."  
  
"That would be counter productive," Wu Fei replied as he took eggs and cheese from the small refrigerator. "This is a place to rest and forget about the outside world for a short while."  
  
"Yeah, well I managed to bring problems in my luggage," Duo said sourly. He sat up suddenly. "I should wake Heero up. I wouldn't want him to miss omelettes."  
  
"Duo," Wu Fei rummaged under the sink and found a small box of hardware for minor repairs. He took out some nails and a light hammer. "I think this will solve at least one of your problems,"he said as he held them out to Duo.  
  
Duo took them, puzzled. "Uh, which problem?"  
  
"The window," Wu Fei reminded him.  
  
Duo blushed even as he chuckled. "See, you're good!" Duo exclaimed as he turned away and walked towards their room. "You'll have everything solved in no time."  
  
Wu Fei sighed as he turned back to the stove. He hoped that childish statement by Duo was a joke.. Habits and traumas, suffered in childhood, weren't going to be addressed in days. In fact, therapy was becoming more and more a viable suggestion. Wu Fei was certain that he could find someone with enough experience dealing with soldiers, to make Duo comfortable. Convincing Duo to trust such a person might be the only problem that he might have to solve.  
  
Wu Fei finished the omelets. He wasn't an expert cook, but, like Duo, he could handle a small repertoire of dishes; fish and rice being one of them, he thought with wry amusement. Placing the food on a platter at the center of the table, he called tentatively, "Breakfast is ready, gentlemen!"  
  
Heero came out of the bedroom first, wearing just a pair of jeans and dark socks. He padded over to the table and sat down as if he were still half asleep. His chocolate hair was all awry and small lines showed on the skin of his face where some fold of pillow or sheet had left an impression there. He yawned and scratched at his scalp.  
  
"Duo decided to take a shower," Heero told Wu Fei. "He won't be long."  
  
Wu Fei heard the water and the sound of the pipes, and he thought of setting the table, but he found himself staring at Heero's naked chest instead. The man was lean, every muscle defined, and he was crisscrossed by thick and thin scars. There was a puckered area as well, where it looked as if he had been shot. It was a map of Heero's dangerous life, depicted on his skin. Wu Fei found himself feeling awe, sympathy, and... he told himself it was normal as he flushed and turned to get plates from the cupboard. He told himself that he was a homosexual, that he was attracted to men, that there was nothing wrong with... getting excited by seeing Heero's dark, stiff nipples.  
  
There was silence now, as Duo's shower ended. Fast on trying to recover from a reaction to the lover of the man who Wu Fei was attracted to, he was suddenly hit with a mental image of a naked Duo toweling off in a steamed filled bathroom. A wave of heat went through Wu Fei's body and he found himself reacting physically. Mortified at such a loss of control, and afraid Heero would see it, Wu Fei muttered something about going to his room. Before he could turn and escape, a hand was placed on the counter on either side of him. Bare arms, cored in muscle, with their own share of scars, kept Wu Fei facing the kitchen counter.  
  
Heero smelled like musk and male as his body pressed to Wu Fei's. Heero leaned, bowing Wu Fei over with his strength. Then Wu Fei felt Heero's pelvis pressing against his backside as Heero took a dominant position. Heero rubbed ever so slightly and Wu Fei felt an erection there, stiff and prominent. Heero nuzzled under Wu Fei's ear, breath hot. Wu Fei felt himself...melt... there was no other way to describe it. Heero was mounting him, showing obvious dominance, and he was, bowing to it, letting it happen, lacking the desire to fight back.  
  
It lasted moments, an eternity, and then Heero said very distinctly, "Don't run away. Be honest. Follow your emotions." He released Wu Fei gently then, and, by the time Wu Fei was straightening and turning around, Heero was sitting at the table as if nothing had happened and Duo was coming in the room, whistling and braiding his hair.  
  
Duo was dressed in shorts and a loose shirt. His bare feet padded over wood floors as he blinked at the table and then went to get the dishes himself. "Sit down," he told Wu Fei good naturedly. "I'll set the table. "Do you want water? Juice? Coffee?"  
  
"Tea," Heero said around a yawn and slumped on the table, chin supported on his fist.  
  
"Chang?" Duo asked as he set the table. When Wu Fei found it impossible to gather his thoughts, Duo leaned down into his line of sight. "Are you feeling okay? You look... weird."  
  
Wu Fei's temper burst through his confusion and he knew he was scowling. He couldn't help a tight lipped, "I'm fine... tea will be fine."  
  
Duo blinked and then straightened. "Okay, guess you're another one who gets grumpy before his caffeine."  
  
Duo turned back to the kitchen and Wu Fei turned his glare on Heero. Heero was watching Duo and... Wu Fei's anger roiled in confusion, not sure of it's ground. Heero was watching Duo with a mixture of gentleness and longing, a look any man would have for his love. The feeling of Heero pressing against him, the knowledge that he had bowed to his dominance, had accommodated Heero's advance, was generating a level of shame in Wu Fei that was rivaling his anger. Wu Fei considered himself a dominant personality. He was strength and the one in control. It couldn't be that his body would betray him as something other than what his personality pretended... other than what it WAS, he amended fiercely to himself. He told himself that he had only been caught off guard, that Heero had confused him. And what sort of head game was Heero playing anyhow?  
  
Wu Fei continued to glare at Heero and Heero continued to act as if nothing had happened between them. Was it revenge? Was it a warning? Heero had effectively shown his virility, shown his strength, and shown his ability to make Wu Fei bow to his... Wu Fei clamped down on that with a dose of denial. He had been surprised, nothing more. Another moment and he would have found the anger he was feeling now and shoved the man off. Wu Fei's anger was righteous, until he remembered that it was Heero who he wished to take Duo away from. It was this man's lover that he was attracted to, so strongly that he couldn't even hide it. Any other man would have done more than embarrass him, Wu Fei thought. Another man would have used his fists.  
  
The situation had suddenly become untenable, Wu Fei thought bitterly. He needed to leave that situation, go back to Preventer headquarters and attempt to steer Duo to a qualified psychologist when he and Heero returned. He couldn't help Duo when he was so physically, and emotionally, a stubborn part of him added, involved with him. He was only going to cause a rift, one that was going to cause Heero to finally act like the jealous lover he should be, and Duo to be hurt.  
  
"Okay, Heero, what the hell did you say to Wu Fei while I was taking a shower?" Duo suddenly demanded. He was holding two steaming cups of tea in his hands and facing them both, his angry gaze on Heero. "He looks pissed enough to chew on the silverware."  
  
Heero grunted and then said as he took his tea, "I told him that he could be honest with us."  
  
"About?" Duo demanded as he gave Wu Fei his tea. When Heero didn't reply, Duo made an exasperated sound."Heero, you made it sound like Wu Fei's been lying to us. I can see why he would be pissed!"  
  
Wu Fei went cold. His anger tied itself into a knot. Trust Duo to see things clearer than anyone. He had been lying, lying about his feelings and lying about his underlying motives for being on that vacation to begin with. Heero saw it. Heero had taunted him with it. 'Called him to pay the piper' Duo would have said. Heero had shown him the base desire that he felt for Duo and was trying to hide.  
  
Wu Fei bowed his head to Heero, deeply and respectfully from where he sat. "Heero is correct, Duo. Please, don't be angry with him."  
  
Duo frowned, looked from Wu Fei to Heero and then shook his head as he sat down. "You guys make me crazy. If there's no problem, then let's eat."  
  
Wu Fei nodded and kept his eyes on his omelet as he slowly ate, not wanting to see Heero's reaction to his bow. Later, he would say that Une had called... another mission... a report not filed... anything to get him out of that situation. Heero wanted him to be honest, but he couldn't, much to his shame, if he wanted to keep his friends and not make Duo's problems worse than they were. It was true that he lusted after Duo Maxwell, but he was determined not cause himself, or Maxwell and Yuy, any more dishonor because of it.


	6. Heart to Heart

"Come on, Heero!" Duo urged as he slung towels over his shoulder and held open the front door of the cabin.  
  
The sun had finally warmed the water and Duo was eager to swim at least once before they had to leave the next day. He was dressed in cut off jean shorts, ragged at the hem, and flip flops on his feet. His bare chest was hairless and his tight muscles played under smooth skin as he flexed and turned to look outside. Wu Fei saw knots along his side, the telltale sign that ribs had been broken once or twice, and a long slash under one of Duo's arms that didn't look... survivable.   
  
Wu Fei was dressed in a pair of black swim trunks and hard soled slippers. He wore a tshirt as well, feeling more modest. He had a sinking feeling that this swim was going to be very difficult. If Heero was wearing anything like Duo, if he had to keep his eyes away from two youthful, male, bodies trained to perfection... Wu Fei took a slow, steadying breath. He wasn't an animal that couldn't control itself. He was a man, a scholar, a warrior, a Preventer. He was the heir of the Dragon Clan and he had honor to uphold and friends that he couldn't betray. It had been easier to think of Duo in emotional and sexual terms when he had believed that Heero was abusing his position at Duo's side, but, now that he knew the true facts, and how deep their love ran...   
  
The sudden ache in Wu Fei's chest caught him off guard. He rubbed at it.  
  
"Are you okay, Wu Fei?" Duo wanted to know anxiously, coming back into the room and letting the door close..  
  
"I'm fine, " Wu Fei replied tightly and lowered his hand, feeling foolish and self conscious. Duo cocked his head to one side and regarded him with a serious _expression. "You don't look fine. You look like something hurts."  
  
Wu Fei retorted flippantly, "It's the ulcer you two are giving me." He wanted to distract Duo, knowing that the man, once he zeroed in on something, wouldn't let it go until he was told the truth. He wasn't prepared for Duo to stiffen and for a sharp look of hurt to come into his eyes. His mouth went into a tight, thin, line and he turned away.  
  
"Okay, sorry," Duo growled and then angrily, "Heero, get your butt out here!"  
  
Heero came from the bedroom then, unhurried and wearing shorts and a green shirt. "I was checking in with Une. She's given us the entire week free. She says she's developing a case for us and it won't be ready until then." He looked over at Wu Fei and Wu Fei could tell by the intensity of Heero's eyes what his answer should be even before Heero asked, "If you would like to stay, I can extend our reservations for the cabin."  
  
"I would like to stay," Wu Fei replied without hesitation.  
  
Duo grumbled, "Well, if we're giving you an ulcer..."  
  
Duo's hands were jammed into his pockets. His head was down and his eyes were covered by his bangs.  
  
"It was, perhaps, a poor attempt at a joke," Wu Fei apologized.  
  
Duo looked up, frowning, but then he was suddenly contrite. "I know we didn't let you in on the plan when we came here... so, I guess you should be... pissed about that... I..." He raked a hand through his bangs and sighed. "Maybe we should go home..."  
  
Heero wasn't saying anything, not sure what their argument was about. He settled on what he did know. "Should I extend the reservations?"  
  
"Yes," Wu Fei replied firmly. "When you bother me enough that I wish to go home, Maxwell, I will inform you of it, be sure of that."  
  
Duo suddenly smirked and his eyes sparkled, willing to forget the argument as he said, "Then let's go swimming guys! You can fool with reservations later, Heero."  
  
Heero hesitated. He looked torn. He wasn't a man to play when there was something that needed to be done. Wu Fei admired that quality, but he knew that Duo was about to get angry about it. Duo was expecting an argument , his tense body language said clearly, and he was ready for contention. Wu Fei deftly stepped in to diffuse the situation.  
  
"The office is very close to the swimming dock," Wu Fei told them. "We can stop there and extend our reservations. I noticed that they also sell prepared food in the attached store. We can take a small lunch with us instead of returning to the cabin for our meal."  
  
Duo calmed and grunted. He rubbed the back of his neck. "That sounds like a plan."  
  
Heero relaxed as well. "All right."  
  
Wu Fei felt as if he had distracted angry bulls by waving verbal red flags, giving them both something else to think about besides the fact that they didn't agree. He could see a picture of their relationship very clearly then; a constant butting of heads, Duo the outgoing, spur of the moment, half, and Heero, the methodical, mission first, half. It was a recipe for unhappiness and it was no wonder that they had been making each other miserable.  
  
So many problems... As Wu Fei followed them out of the door and down towards the office and the swimming dock, he wondered if he would be doing them a disservice by trying to keep them together. Surely both Heero and Duo could find other people more compatible? It was logical to think that, but the pain was there again and Wu Fei fisted his hand to keep from rubbing his chest once more. It may have been logical, but it wasn't an outcome he was eager to see.  
  
Wu Fei lagged slightly behind, enjoying the sun, but also watching Heero and Duo as they walked together. There was a bond there, invisible unless you saw the way they moved, the way that they were 'aware' of each other. It spoke of something above petty arguments; something that would forgive and forget as many times as necessary to keep that bond solid.  
  
Duo looked back and called, "Come on, Wu Fei! Keep up!"  
  
Wu Fei felt drawn in suddenly, brought into something electric, something personal. It was like... becoming part of a circuit. Duo held out his hand, motioning him closer. Heero turned as well to look back at Wu Fei, _expression open and friendly. Wu Fei stepped forward to join them and, as they proceeded towards the office together, the pain in his chest went away.  
  
Heero left them to pay for their extension and Wu Fei followed Duo into the store. Duo ordered a large sandwich for himself, at the hole in the wall deli at the back, and a container of hot chicken and rice for Heero. He then went up and down the aisles looking for drinks and snacks, leaving Wu Fei to sigh over the limited menu. The bored girl behind the counter popped and chewed gum, looking as if she were willing to wait forever until Wu Fei made up his mind. Wu Fei, though, was finding it hard to concentrate on menu.  
  
Heero's begging look, when he had informed him of Une's charity concerning their off time, had been impossible to refuse. All of Wu Fei's resolve to leave, to remove himself from that situation, had disappeared from consideration. The fact that he had almost ruined Duo's trust in him with some ill timed words, had cemented his decision to stay as well. Rebuffing Heero's offer would have only confirmed Duo's impression that Wu Fei was rejecting his two friends and their problems.  
  
Heero's suggestive sexual encounter in the kitchen had been a warning, Wu Fei decided, not a sexual advance towards himself. Heero had been showing him his own lack of honor, his own lack of control over himself and his needs. Heero had said... Wu Fei felt himself blushing, remembering Heero's words, remembering the feel of his body. Heero had forgiven him, had given him a chance to correct his mistake. Running away now would only confirm to himself that he was weak and unworthy of that chance..  
  
The girl behind the counter popped a rather large bubble of her gum. Wu Fei brought himself out of his thoughts and said, finally, "The fried fish, I suppose, with rice."  
  
"On a bun?" the girl wondered with a country drawl.  
  
Wu Fei scowled. "No."  
  
"Allrighty then, order will be up in a few. " She took her order sheet and slapped it onto a spike of metal behind her on a low counter. "Dave! Order up!"  
  
She didn't turn to accomplish that feat, instead, she was looking appreciatively at something behind Wu Fei. Duo's bare chest, handsome face, and long braid, Wu Fei decided, and his guess was confirmed as Duo unloaded snacks and drinks onto the checkout counter.  
  
"What's the damage, darling?" Duo wondered with a wink.  
  
The girl smirked and blushed as she began ringing the items into the cash register. Duo talked to her about the lake, the eagles, the island, and about what she thought about swimming in the lake, in a cheerful tone that had her laughing and falling head over heels for his charm. . Wu Fei, who had stepped back to give Duo more room, had a long time to wait. He spent that time trying to find his strength and his resolve. Unfortunately, Duo made that nearly impossible just by being so close. Wu Fei, despite his best efforts, found himself noticing the line of Duo's neck as it flowed into the well rounded curve of his shoulder, the well formed muscles of his forearm, the slide of skin over ribs along his sides, the enticing curve of hipbone just showing, and a light, spicy scent coming from Duo's hair. As the girl was bagging up Duo's purchases and giving him a sack with their prepared food, Wu Fei also had time to notice that Duo was carrying a knife tucked into the back waistband of his swim shorts.  
  
As they walked out of the store, Wu Fei asked, "Is that necessary?"  
  
Duo looked at his bags of snacks, sheepishly. "I'm still growing, you know?"  
  
Wu Fei sighed, "The knife, Duo. I think three ex Gundam pilots can handle themselves without weapons, don't you?"  
  
Duo winced. "Well, I told you I'm not exactly reasonable when it comes to that."  
  
"The extension has been made," Heero announced as he joined them. "They consider us celebrities, so they were eager to accommodate us." Duo rolled his eyes. "We'll be on next week's brochure. Cabins preferred by Gundam pilots. War heros slept here."  
  
Wu Fei didn't join in their laughter. He wasn't considered a war hero. He had been fighting for L5 and L5 was gone, vaporized by their own choice. After that traumatic incident, he had chosen the wrong side of the fight He doubted that anyone had forgotten that fact.  
  
Duo was sensitive. He noticed Wu Fei's sudden, dark, mood and understood the cause. He changed subjects abruptly. "So, how cold do you think the water is? The girl back there seemed to think we were nuts for wanting to swim."  
  
"I think the children are answering that question," Heero replied and pointed towards the swimming dock. The little dog was running up and down it, yapping excitedly at the three children already swimming there. They were splashing and laughing as they paddled around on floats.  
  
Duo stopped walking and his face lost all traces of humor. "I'm not feeling so good," he said and he didn't sound well. "Maybe you two should go ahead without me?"  
  
"No," Heero replied shortly and made a wall of his body, blocking Duo from the path back to the cabin.   
  
"We don't have to swim with them, Duo," Wu Fei told him firmly. "And I'm not a strong swimmer. I don't mind sitting on the dock and watching."  
  
Duo looked both guilty and eager. "You'll watch? That won't be much fun for you, Chang... We could take turns, though."  
  
"Agreed," Heero replied and Wu Fei heard 'mission planning' overtones to his voice, as if they were giving out positions for a military action.  
  
"I don't have any objection," Wu Fei agreed as well.  
  
"Great!" Duo regained his smile and they stepped onto the dock.   
  
The children called happily to Heero and he nodded greeting with a surprisingly warm look in his eyes. The little dog was just as happy to see Duo. Duo bent and rubbed him behind the ears before straightening and giving their surroundings a long, searching look.  
  
Wu Fei sat cross legged on the hard boards of the dock, but it was warm from the sun and it felt good against his bare skin. He composed himself to enjoy his surroundings and watched Duo test the water and then shiver.  
  
"Damned cold," Duo proclaimed and then, with his usually impulsiveness, he dived straight in. He surfaced almost at once, spluttering and exclaiming about the cold. He managed to keep it g rated, though, for the children's sake.  
  
Heero took his time. He slipped out of his shoes, slowly peeled off his shirt over his head, and then dropped his shorts. Wu Fei gaped. Heero was wearing a red speedo and it hugged the curve of a well endowed crotch. Duo wolf whistled and Heero smirked as he ran fingers through his chocolate hair, muscles and scars flexing all over his lean body.  
  
Wu Fei suddenly found the opposite side of the lake interesting, especially when Heero crouched in front of him to secure their food and fold his clothing on top of the towels.  
  
"Come in!" The children called happily. "It's warm!" They lied.  
  
"Warm?" Heero replied with a lifted eyebrow as he turned to face them, faking ignorance. "Are you certain?"  
  
"Yes! Yes!" They all cheered and laughed.  
  
"If you say so..." he replied and then dove into the water as lithe and as sleek as a missile. When he surfaced again, he smiled and lied, "You're right, the water is very warm."  
  
The children were wide eyed and then they laughed and splashed him when they realized that he hadn't been able to keep the shiver out of his voice.  
  
He was so easy with them, Wu Fei realized, as he tried to gather his thoughts back from the scattered places the sight of Heero's body had sent them to. He recalled what Heero had said before, that they didn't expect him to have involved conversations, that they were happy with any notice he gave them. With Duo, it wasn't that simple, unfortunately.  
  
Duo kept his distance, swimming by himself. Heero kept an eye on him, but he seemed content to float near the children as they talked to him in high pitched, laughing voices.  
  
"Here's their ball," their mother said as she bent and handed Wu Fei a plastic ball. She smiled at him in a friendly manner, then walked back to where her husband was sunbathing on a lounger further down the bank.  
  
Wu Fei turned the ball over in his hands thoughtfully and then tossed it to Duo. It bounced off of Duo's head. "Head's up!" Wu Fei announced after the fact.  
  
Duo scowled, but he was smiling too as he swam to the floating ball and retrieved it. "Thanks a lot," he called back sarcastically and then tossed the ball to Heero. Heero caught it deftly and then tossed it over to the children. They squealed in delight and chased after it.  
  
Just as Wu Fei had planned, Duo wasn't allowed to stay out of the game. Since he had started it, the children naturally included him, tossing the ball as far as they could to where he was swimming. Of course they missed and, of course, Duo was forced to swim closer and closer to retrieve the ball so that he could throw it back to them. He couldn't help but join the game and he couldn't help smiling and laughing along with the children.  
  
Pleased, Wu Fei didn't concern himself with whether he was going to be given the chance to swim. It suited him more to enjoy the sun, the light breeze, and the beauty of the lake and the trees all around him. The children's high pitched laughter, and Duo and Heero's deeper voices, faded away as he slipped into a pleasant, meditative, state.  
  
"Eddie!" Duo shouted and there was a splash.  
  
Wu Fei started, mind making the connection between the name and the youngest of the boys, before he was standing defensively and looking around for danger in one smooth motion.  
  
Duo was gone and the young boy was missing as well. Wu Fei reached for a weapon he didn't have as he yelled, "Yuy?!" in confusion.  
  
"The boy went under!" Heero called back as he swam to a bubbling spot of water.  
  
"Eddie!" the mother shrieked as both parents came running onto the dock. The father dived straight in and started to swim to Heero just as Duo surfaced with the boy tucked under one arm. Heero grabbed at his gasping partner and helped him swim back to the dock. The other children scrambled onto the dock ahead of him and the father helped Heero lift Eddie, choking and gasping on water, up to where Wu Fei was waiting to take him.  
  
Wu Fei put the boy on his side and checked him over quickly. He seemed all right; pale and frightened, but breathing easier as he cleared his lungs. Everyone left the water and gathered close as Wu Fei completed his examination. When he announced, "He'll be all right,"the mother of the boy snatched Eddie up and held him close.  
  
"Eddie!" She wailed. "You're such a good swimmer. What happened?"  
  
"Cramp, I think," Heero said. "You should have a doctor check him to be absolutely certain."  
  
The father squeezed Duo on the shoulder. Duo was slumped over, still breathing hard. "Thank you," the father told him. "If you hadn't seen him go under the water, we might... he might..." The father swallowed hard. "Thank you."  
  
The father gathered his family together and they made their subdued way back to their cabin, the mother carrying Eddie. Heero looked after them with an _expression of concern. Duo was looking sick and upset as he grabbed up their towels and chucked the bags of food at Heero.  
  
"I'm done swimming," Duo said. "Let's get out of here."  
  
Wu Fei knew what Duo was thinking, and so did Heero. As Heero struggled for words, Wu Fei already had them ready. "You blame yourself," he said.  
  
Duo went pale. He ducked his head so that his wet bangs hid his _expression. After a moment, he nodded.  
  
Wu Fei sighed. "My friend, you cannot think that being close to you causes bad things to happen to people. You cannot take that kind of responsibility for the chances of life. Consider this, if we had not been here, if you had not been close enough to the boy to see him go under the water, he would most likely be dead now."  
  
Duo went even paler, but he looked up at Wu Fei sharply. It was painful to see how badly he wanted to believe that and how his fear, his guilt, was eating away at his ability to do that.  
  
Wu Fei leaned very close. "You saved his life, Duo." Wu Fei was looking directly into Duo's eyes, seeing the redness, the tension, the pain there. Like a string breaking, Duo's shoulders slumped and he let out a shuddering breath. He smiled weakly and said, "Yeah, guess I did." He added, sounding embarrassed, "I still want to go back to the cabin. I think the fun's over."  
  
Wu Fei straightened and nodded. "I agree."  
  
Heero put his clothes back on, saying,. "It's getting chill again. That probably is a good idea."  
  
They began walking back to the cabin and Duo tried to recover by falling back on humor, "Well, if you didn't insist on walking around in that suit...."  
  
"It's comfortable," Heero replied simply.  
  
"It's pornographic," Duo grumbled back. "And it's red. Why don't you just put up a big sign, 'Look at my crotch.' ?"  
  
Heero grunted. "There isn't anyone around to see, except-"  
  
"Except a lot of traumatized chipmunks," Duo snickered.  
  
And one Heir of the Dragon Clan, Wu Fei caught himself thinking ruefully, but then clamped down on that in disgust at himself.  
  
As Duo and Heero continued their banter, Wu Fei began to pay attention and to wonder at Heero's ability to take cues from Duo. They could snipe at each other, follow each other's lead, joke, and bat insults back and forth with ease. Why was it, then , so hard for them to have a regular conversation? Maybe it went back to the children. When they talked like this, Duo wasn't expecting much from Heero, wasn't needing those deeper, emotional, more complicated responses. Heero was at ease and that might be at the root of their problem as far as communication went. Heero wasn't expecting to make any mistakes, so he wasn't guarding against them.  
  
"We should go out tonight," Duo was saying, the argument at an end. "There has to be a bar or something around here where people hang out and have some fun. We've had enough of quiet, let's get loud."  
  
Wu Fei liked the quiet. Duo's suggestion wasn't appealing to him, "Perhaps you and Heero could..."  
  
"Come on, Fei!" Duo urged. "Let the hair down for one evening. The places around here can't be too wild, maybe just a watering hole where a person can shoot some pool or play some vid games."  
  
Wu Fei made a noncommital answer, deciding that things were too raw for the moment to argue about it. He would decline again later. He wondered, though, why Heero was suddenly looking so worried.


	7. Guard

Duo was the first to take a shower, once they returned to the cabin, while Wu Fei emptied the bags containing their lunch onto the table. Heero, a towel draped over his shoulders and his drying hair a tangle in his eyes, leaned against the kitchen counter and waited for his turn in the bathroom.  
  
Wu Fei felt tense and didn't like the fact that he was waiting for Heero to make another inappropriate advance towards him. He finally broke the silence, feeling embarrassed but determined that he wasn't going to leave it as an issue between them. "I understand why you... approached me when we were in the kitchen alone before. I understand that I... was acting dishonorably towards Duo and that you were... making a point. How ever..."  
  
Heero shifted and Wu Fei dared to look at him. Heero was looking uncomfortable. "It wasn't a warning," he said and then looked at a loss for words. "You don't threaten my relationship with Duo." He struggled, frowning, and then looked towards the bathroom when there was the sound of the water being turned off. He changed subjects abruptly, "Chang... about tonight. Duo has done this before, when he feels... inadequate. I would like you to accompany us, to help keep Duo from being... destructive."  
  
"Destructive?" Wu Fei repeated, alarmed and suddenly not caring that Heero had failed to explain his advances towards him. "How destru-"  
  
"Who's next?" Duo asked cheerfully as he came back into the main room drying his wet hair and dressed in only a pair of jeans.  
  
Wu Fei went silent and Heero pushed away from the counter. "I am." He passed Duo and lightly ran a hand along his lover's arm before going into the bathroom. Duo looked after him and then eyed Wu Fei suspiciously.  
  
"Talking about me again?" Duo wondered.  
  
"He's concerned," Wu Fei admitted.  
  
Duo frowned and sat down. He opened up a drink bottle and took a long swig before he said, "I'm a big boy, you know?" Which sounded belligerent enough to validate Heero's concern.  
  
Wu Fei sat down opposite Duo and opened his food container. He looked at the meal dubiously as he said, "You're frustrated. You need an outlet."  
  
"I need to blow some steam," Duo agreed as he unrolled the paper from his sandwich. "Usually, in a place like this, it takes about a minute, sometimes less, to get in a nice fistfight. All I have to do is drape my arm over Heero's shoulder and grin."  
  
Wu Fei eyed him and saw that Duo was already grinning with a fierce glow that usually came with the start of an adrenaline rush. "I won't be going along. I have other plans," Wu Fei told him quietly as he picked up a fork and began eating his food.  
  
"It's a lot of fun, Chang," Duo wheedled. "You don't have to fight, if you don't want to, but... where's your sense of justice? I do wait until they attack us first. They have it coming to them."  
  
"It doesn't bother you to force Heero into these fights?" Wu Fei wondered acidly.  
  
Duo sat back in his chair, regarding Wu Fei. "I've never forced Heero to fight."  
  
"He's supposed to let you fight alone?"Wu Fei grimaced at the chicken and wondered how old it had been before it had been fried and put into his rice. It was very tough."Heero wouldn't do that."  
  
Duo checked under the bun of his sandwich, seemed satisfied that he had been given what he had ordered, and then began to eat it. He said around a mouthful, "Heero knows I can take care of myself."  
  
Wu Fei made an exasperated sound, "Duo, if Heero informed you that he was going out into a strange place, to start a fight, and that you didn't have to attend the event, would you stay behind, unconcerned for him?"  
  
Duo put down his sandwich, thoughtful. "No, I guess not."  
  
"Has Heero ever stayed behind?" Wu Fei wondered.  
  
Duo wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and replied, "No." His frown deepened. "Are you saying that he doesn't think I can handle myself in a fight?"  
  
Wu Fei narrowed eyes at Duo. "You are being dense. You love each other. You don't want to see anything happen to each other. You wouldn't let Heero go alone. He won't let you go alone."  
  
"I wouldn't let you go alone either," Duo pointed out.  
  
Wu Fei blinked, surprised, but then he asked, "Is that because you don't think I can handle myself in a fight?"  
  
Duo thought that through. "No," he replied." I would want to watch your back, though, just in case."  
  
"So...?" Wu Fei asked patiently.  
  
"So... we all love each other?" Duo smirked.  
  
Wu Fei leaned forward and gave Duo's forehead a slight smack with the heel of his hand. When he sat back down, Duo was laughing at him. "Impossible," Wu Fei growled, realizing that Duo had been pretending ignorance all along.  
  
Duo sobered then and replied more seriously. "Sometimes... I just gotta, Wu Fei. I don't know why. I feel bad that I get Heero mixed up in it too, but-"  
  
"Misery loves company," Wu Fei cut in."You're not sorry at all. In fact, you would very much like to include me as well."  
  
"Okay, I'm screwed up," Duo sighed dejectedly. He moved his sandwich around thoughtfully and then asked, curiosity getting the better of him, "If you're not coming, what are you doing tonight?"  
  
Wu Fei heard Heero finish his shower. He tried to look intent on his meal and inscrutable as he replied, "There is a small hill not far from here. I intend to climb it."  
  
Duo was suddenly concerned. "At night? What's the difficulty level?"  
  
"To reach the point that I wish, the difficulty level is high," Wu Fei replied.  
  
Duo's concern turned to alarm. "What's up there that you want to see so badly?"  
  
Wu Fei shrugged. "It's a secret."  
  
There was silence on the other side of the table and then Duo said, "You fucker."  
  
Wu Fei smiled. "I don't know what you mean."  
  
"Yes, you do," Duo growled and stood up as Hero came into the room, combing his unruly hair with his fingers, and wearing a pair of dark shorts and a t-shirt. "Heero, eat your lunch," Duo told the man. "Looks like we have to outfit for a climb tonight."  
  
Heero was interested at once, his dark blue eyes glittering with anticipation.   
  
Duo gave him an indulgent look, "Yes, there will be mission stats, supply lists, and logistic maps. Just what you love. Get us some info on ..." He turned to Wu Fei. "What's the hill called?"  
  
Wu Fei smiled. "It's a secret."  
  
Duo blinked and then grinned, liking spontaneity. Heero was immediately out of his element, though, and frowning. Wu Fei rescued him before he had a chance to try to veto the adventure and start an argument with Duo.   
  
"There is a trail, but it's steep and rarely attempted," Wu Fei explained. "There won't be any man made lights. The climb is estimated to take three hours."  
  
Duo and Heero exchanged looks and Wu Fei saw the team work they were famous for go into action. They didn't argue. Both had strengths, both had weaknesses. Together, they were a single force... but a force with a flaw. Wu Fei saw it very clearly and wondered that he had never noticed it before. They had been lucky, he concluded, lucky that a mission hadn't exploited a glaring problem with their seemingly flawless relationship.  
  
Heero planned and implemented based on the facts, when there was time. When there wasn't, when something took them by surprise, Duo improvised and gave orders, which Heero followed and implemented. Heero did ask appropriate questions; wanting mission parameters, wanting a supply list, wanting Duo's fly by the seat of his pants plan to form itself into something he could understand and accept. It forced Duo to consider his plan more, to not make it quite so impulsive, but it was still heavily one sided and guesswork. Heero would follow Duo's plan, regardless, and Duo would follow Heero's plan, when he had the time to make one, as well. They trusted each other too much, trusted their combined expertise without question. They were lacking objectivity.   
  
Wu Fei stopped their involved plans and told them, "Eat lunch and I will tell you what we'll need. Duo..." He eyed the man, "this is a climb up a hill, not an assault on Barge."  
  
Duo grinned, apologetic. "I'd go with nothing but a hand gun, but Heero needs something to do."  
  
Wu Fei was very sure that, without Heero's input, Duo would have done just that."We will need energy bars, water, a blanket, and some warm jackets,"Wu Fei relented and stressed, "Nothing else."  
  
Heero nodded and Wu Fei knew that he would be taking care of the supplies, but then he asked, "What is our goal?"  
  
"It's a secret," Duo replied for Wu Fei, sounding impish. Heero didn't like that, but he looked at Wu Fei and Wu Fei was surprised to see trust there. "You won't be disappointed," he told Heero, but deep down, he hoped that were true.  
  
Wu Fei availed himself of the shower while the other two ate and talked about the climb. Standing in the steam and enjoying the hot water, he went over his plan in his mind. It was a twofold plan. It would, hopefully, work off some of Duo's emotional turmoil, and also give Duo and Heero a view of their relationship that they might not have been aware of. Much like the revelation in the kitchen, it was something that had the possibility to hurt or harm them depending on how they received it.  
  
Finishing his shower, Wu Fei dressed in shorts and a shirt and went back into the kitchen. Heero was sitting alone, poking a fork into his lunch and not looking very pleased with it Wu Fei took out the bread, along with some ham and cheese, and asked, "Would you like a sandwich? I couldn't finish eating my food. It was too..."  
  
"Terrible," Heero finished, making a face as he pushed his lunch away from him. "I would like a sandwich, but only ham, please."  
  
Wu Fei nodded and then began preparing them. "Where did Duo go?" he asked.  
  
"Outside. His hair dries better in the air, " Heero replied.  
  
Wu Fei finished the sandwiches and then sat down, sliding Heero's sandwich towards him on a plate. Wu Fei chose his words carefully. "I need your assistance, Heero." Heero had picked up his sandwich. He held it poised, raising an eyebrow as Wu Fei continued, "I need you to convince Duo to leave his weapon here."  
  
Heero snorted and took a bite of his sandwich. He chewed, swallowed, and then replied, "That would require force and restraints."  
  
Wu Fei saw his jaw tensing and he knew just how much it effected Heero to have Duo carrying his weapon everywhere with him. This was a man who wanted peace and all that came with it. When he stopped being a Preventer agent at the end of the day, he wanted to clock out and go home, leave violence, missions, and weapons at the door.  
  
"It requires only one thing," Wu Fei corrected him."It requires that you ask him."  
  
"Wu Fei...," Heero began, unsure, but Wu Fei was firm.  
  
"Have you ever asked him to leave it behind?" When Heero shook his head, Wu Fei said, "Of course not. You're a soldier. You understand... too much, perhaps. You're not helping by allowing him to continue in his actions. He knows you don't like it, but you have to... insist."  
  
"This climb," Heero asked. "Is the goal to force Duo to walk without a weapon?"  
  
Wu Fei replied, "No, but I spoke the truth when I told Duo that it was a secret. It's an enjoyable secret, though. It will help with your problems, Heero."  
  
Heero's eyes did something. They warmed. Wu Fei stared into their depths and felt... He stood abruptly, flustered, as he stammered, "I will go to my room... I-I need to rest before we leave."  
  
"Chang..." Heero began and then sighed, as Wu Fei hurried to escape a feeling that he refused to acknowledge. He almost had his bedroom door closed, when he heard Heero say quietly, "Damn."  
  
Wu Fei meditated seated on his bed, trying to find his calm center, trying to understand the feelings within himself. He heard Heero pacing. Heard Duo return. Heard their voices going back and forth. He tried to shut them out, but they were at his center, both of them, eating away at his resolve and unearthing feelings that were far from honorable, far from moral, and completely unattainable for the head of the Dragon Clan. It helped to shut off his confusion by reminding himself of his future, of the fact that he was not a simple, young man, but someone with the weight of responsibility and clan about to settle on his shoulders. He could not have Duo Maxwell, ever. He could not hope to attain even a small piece of what Duo shared with Heero. Wu Fei was committed, sealed, destined to leave them and their lives behind. He was not free to follow his desires, in their world or in his own.  
  
Their conversation came to him again and he tried to listen, but their voices were too soft. For once, they were talking to each other equally and Wu Fei supposed they were discussing the climb. When he heard his own name, spoken loudly, he started, but the rest of the conversation faded again and he was left to wonder if they were discussing his abrupt departure from Heero's presence. His face grew hot.  
  
There was a knock on the door. "Chang?" Duo's voice called lightly.  
  
Wu Fei answered the door reluctantly. He found Duo standing uncertainly on the outside of his room. "Can we talk?" Duo asked.  
  
Wu Fei nodded and began to leave his room. Duo stopped him.  
  
"In your room," Duo pleaded.  
  
Wu Fei tried to see past him, tried to see Heero, but Duo was blocking his view entirely. "All right," Wu Fei agreed and then backed into his room to allow Duo to enter.  
  
Duo crossed the room, pulling the curtain closed on the window before sitting on the bed. "Close the door."  
  
Wu Fei replied without thinking, before he could realize that his words would reveal too much about his thoughts, "I'd rather not."  
  
Duo snorted, perhaps taking it as a joke, as he sat back on his hands. "Wu Fei, cut it out and close the door. Heero knows why I'm in here. He asked me to come and talk to you."  
  
Wu Fei slowly closed the door, but he didn't approach the bed. He was sure that Duo was unaware that the pose that he had adopted was extremely provocative. He looked almost sultry and it would have been easy to interpret his body language as inviting. Legs sprawled wide, the mound between his legs open to Wu Fei's view, his slim waist made a sleek curve to wide, rounded shoulders and strong arms. His head was tilted forward, his large eyes regarding Wu Fei in amused exasperation as the sun, coming through a window, turned his hair into a fiery trail of cinnamon.   
  
"Heero requested...," Wu Fei floundered.  
  
"Yeah," Duo huffed and blew air through his bangs. "You know he's not good at explaining himself. Well..." Duo paused and narrowed eyes. "This is harder than I thought. You're just not the kind of guy... I mean..." He sighed, regrouped, and said, "Look, maybe I should just explain about me and Heero. I grew up on the streets and he grew up with lunatics. We both don't have what you might consider.... uh... morals." He sat up and rubbed a hand up and down one arm nervously. "What I want to say is...We didn't learn polite society when it comes to..." He stopped and stared at Wu Fei. He stood abruptly. "Yeah, I can see why you left the room when Heero wanted to talk about this. This is too freakin hard." He stood and started for the door and Wu Fei was all too willing to let him go, not sure he wanted to know what Duo had been trying to explain to him.  
  
Duo paused, though, chewing over something, and then said suddenly, "I don't mind, okay? So... well...Just remember that next time you... Heero... I'm leaving now." Duo ducked through the door as if he was expecting incoming missiles. "We're ready for the climb when you are."  
  
Heero had requested that Duo... Wu Fei closed the door firmly behind Duo and then turned away from it, on the edge of knowing, but also firmly refusing to go over into full understanding. His mind filled his attempt at not thinking with the feel of Heero pressing against him, mounting him and showing, not dominance, he now suspected, but real desire? And didn't he return that desire? Hadn't he let Heero...  
  
Duo's words came to him; his expression, his nervousness, and his embarrassment. Duo had given his approval. Heero had given his approval as well... but why? What were they trying to say to him? What did they think of each other that they felt the need to make such offers? It seemed clear proof that their relationship was becoming more fractured, more uncertain for them both. It was almost as if they were giving up, allowing each other the freedom to choose someone else. Wu Fei tried very hard not to think of that someone as himself. They needed this climb, he thought. They needed for it to reconnect them, to give them hope, for their sakes' and his.


	8. Partnerships

"I can't see a thing, Fei!" Duo grumbled. He was unarmed and feeling it keenly, his nerves strung tight.  
  
Heero was eyeing what he could see of the steep path ahead of them. "Many foot and handholds, brush, scrub trees...doable."  
  
"That's what you can see," Duo shot back. "What about what we can't see?" He turned to Wu Fei, who was standing with his hands in his jacket pockets and attempting to at least appear confident. "A bar fight is a hell of a lot less dangerous than this."  
  
Wu Fei shrugged and began to walk towards the first part of the climb. "I didn't ask you to come along, Maxwell. You two may go to your bar fight, if that's what you wish."  
  
"Chang!" Duo protested, blocking his way. "I know you're not a stupid man."  
  
"No, I am not," Chang replied with a raised, black, eyebrow.  
  
Duo made an exasperated sound. "At least tell us what's up there?"  
  
"No, I will not," Wu Fei walked around him and continued towards the darkness and the path. "If you want that information, you will have to accompany me."  
  
"You know we'll come with you," Duo tried, "but do you really want to risk our necks too?"  
  
Wu Fei flung over his shoulder, "Together, this climb will not be difficult."  
  
"But alone it will be?" Duo guessed acidly.  
  
"Very much so," Wu Fei admitted.  
  
"You are such an arrogant son of a b-" Duo began, but Heero tugged briefly on his braid to stop him and walked past to follow Wu Fei. Duo growled, stood with his hands balled into fists, and then swore explosively at the empty air as he turned and followed them both.  
  
"I'll go first and then pull you two up," Heero suggested as they reached the first part of the climb. Duo nodded and cupped his hands to give Heero a lift to an outcropping of rock above them.  
  
"I have this theory," Duo grumbled and then braced himself and grunted as Heero stepped up. He continued as he motioned Wu Fei to go first. "My theory is that there is a very easy walk up this hill on the opposite side."  
  
"Interesting theory," Wu Fei replied as he motioned Duo to proceed him.  
  
Duo glared at him. "You don't have a good poker face, Chang."  
  
"It's not important, is it?" Wu Fei asked him. "We won't be going that way, after all."  
  
Duo grunted. He began to reach up for Heero's offered hand, but Wu Fei stopped him. Duo sighed. "What now? Do I have to do the climb with my hands tied behind my back?"  
  
"In a manner of speaking," Wu Fei chuckled. "There are rules to this climb."  
  
"Rules?" Heero echoed as he looked down at them.  
  
"Yes, rules," Wu Fei regarded them both and then explained, "When we come to the stages of the climb where we need each others help to go upward, a person must ask a question that the other person must answer."  
  
Duo stared. "Is this a weird L5 version of 'Truth or Dare'?"  
  
"You don't have to agree," Wu Fei told him, "but, if you refuse, I climb alone."  
  
Duo exchanged a look with a confused Heero. "Uh..." Duo looked back down at Wu Fei. He sighed, scrubbed a hand through his hair, and then made a surrender motion. "Sure, why not? Whatever.... uhm... Heero..." He pondered a question and then asked flippantly, "Fish or chicken?"  
  
"Fish," Heero replied, thought for a moment, and then asked, "Glock or Colt?"  
  
Duo rolled his eyes. "Glock." He reached up with his hands and Heero pulled him up effortlessly.  
  
They exchanged looks again and then Duo grinned down at Wu Fei. "Your turn."  
  
Wu Fei hadn't really thought of being part of the game that he had devised for Heero and Duo. Now he wondered if he had made a miscalculation. Cautiously, he asked, "Was it difficult leaving your gun behind?"  
  
Duo was unhappy with the question, but he replied truthfully, "Yeah, but it's dark and nobody's out here... so, not as hard as it could have been."  
  
Wu Fei waited, seeing Duo thinking and expecting a serious question in return, perhaps a question about what was at the top of the hill. Duo grinned in the next moment, knowing Wu Fei was waiting for it, but then asked simply, "Boxers or briefs?"  
  
Wu Fei gave him a snort and then replied, as he held up his hands for their help, "Neither."  
  
Duo began pulling him up and then the response registered and he froze, muscles tensing as he held Wu Fei's weight suspended. He blinked, recovered with an effort, and then said, "Uh, isn't that...," but then shut his mouth and turned away, braid swinging in an arc as he motioned for Heero to start climbing again.  
  
Heero chuckled, seeing something in Duo's _expression that was humorous. They proceeded Wu Fei to the next level. Duo cupped his hands to help Heero up and asked, "Why green and black?"  
  
Heero looked confused, but Wu Fei understood. "He's speaking about your war time attire, Yuy."  
  
Heero grunted and then answered simply, "Camouflage, it blends."  
  
"Practical, as always," Duo muttered and lifted Heero up.  
  
Heero reached back down and asked, "Why does everything I say make you angry?"  
  
Duo stopped before grabbing Heero's hand. Wu Fei kept silent, realizing that Heero was ready to take the game seriously. He watched his friends stare at each other.  
  
"It doesn't," Duo replied defensively.  
  
"Almost everything," Heero corrected.  
  
Silence. Minutes ticked by. Wu Fei waited in the dark, hands deep in the pockets of his jacket and breath smoking in the cold. "Maybe you never say what I want to hear," Duo finally replied.  
  
"What-" Heero began, but Duo cut him off.  
  
"Only one question." Duo grabbed Heero's hand and Heero pulled him up.  
  
Wu Fei sighed, wishing he could bend that rule for them, but he knew the wisdom behind it. Slow, steady progress was the key, he was certain. Otherwise, they might resist, panic, retreat and refuse to play.  
  
Wu Fei reached up towards Duo, but Heero pushed Duo aside to help him. Wu Fei braced himself for his question.  
  
"Why are you helping us?" Heero wondered.  
  
Wu Fei looked up at two sets of curious eyes, Heero looking intense and Duo looking sad, but curious. He could have replied any number of things, but Wu Fei knew that he couldn't dodge his questions if he wanted the others to stay honest. He did have an escape, though, at least for the moment. He replied, "You are not allowed to ask questions for which you already know the answer."  
  
Duo shot a look at Heero, startled, but Heero clearly knew exactly what Wu Fei was saying. His jaw clenched, but then it smoothed out and he asked, "but that's changed, hasn't it?"  
  
Wu Fei felt a chill run through his body and it didn't have anything to do with the cold. He shivered, knowing he was going pale, knowing that his thoughts were clear on his face as he replied, "Yes, it has."  
  
Heero nodded, accepting that.  
  
Wu Fei asked his question. "Why do you like having mission specs, planning, and gathering information before doing anything?"  
  
Heero considered the question and took so long giving the answer that Duo exploded, "Because he's anal, that's why!"  
  
"Maxwell," Wu Fei chided. "The question wasn't for you."  
  
"Don't talk to me like I'm six," Duo grumbled irritably, but he backed off and Wu Fei continued to wait patiently for Heero's reply.  
  
At last, Heero said softly, in a voice almost carried off by the light, cold breeze, "When I failed... during the war...they... Dr. J... they didn't like me to fail... I didn't like it. They... "  
  
"Heero....," Wu Fei stopped him , sensing it was too painful. "I understand. You don't have to answer.   
  
"I just..." Heero struggled.  
  
"Need to be sure," Wu Fei finished and wondered what kind of consequences 'getting it wrong' had been for someone as young as Heero had been during the war. Whatever they had been, they were enough to make a strong man like Heero fear them and continue to try and avoid making mistakes even now.  
  
Heero pulled Wu Fei up, relieved that he didn't have to answer the question fully.  
  
"What the hell was THAT all about?" Duo wanted to know. He was agitated, his face, almost hidden in the shadows of night, was still able to convey his fear that Heero was saying something wrong, something that would make Wu Fei angry, and that they were sharing something he couldn't understand and wasn't allowed to be apart of.  
  
Wu Fei touched Duo lightly on the arm to reassure him that he wasn't being alienated. "Think about it and I'm sure you'll come to understand," Wu Fei told him.. "We all still have scars from the war, inside and out." He hoped that Duo would understand, would realize that Heero suffered too, and that asking him to change his behavior to please anyone, including Duo, was more than asking him to make a decision to do so.   
  
"I get that Heero has problems," Duo replied. "So do I. It makes us impossible people."  
  
"Not impossible," Wu Fei replied, quickly correcting him, "You just have to find your way."  
  
"Way?" Duo echoed, confused.  
  
"Like this path in the dark," Wu Fei replied, grateful for the opening. "It's not going to change to please us or make our way easier. Nature and other men made it what it is. We can give up, turn back, and refuse to learn it's secrets, but, I think, our lives will be lesser if we do. Once you learn it's ways, perhaps we will find that it isn't so hard to navigate."  
  
"Deep," Duo sighed and adjusted his pack as he said sourly, "Guess that's a fancy way of saying 'like it or lump it'?"  
  
Heero growled, recovering, "I think I like Wu Fei's version."  
  
Duo glared, but then he asked, "And what about the first question? What was that? What's changed? You're helping us for some other reason now, Fei?"  
  
"Is that your next question?" Heero wanted to know as he began climbing again. Duo snorted as he followed, close on his heels.  
  
"I have better ones," Duo replied.  
  
Wu Fei began to follow, but then suddenly slipped and slid back down a few feet. Both Heero and Duo reacted as one, dropping back and grabbing onto him. They braced Wu Fei on either side until he was able to find his footing again.  
  
"Okay?" Duo asked anxiously.  
  
Wu Fei felt an ankle twinge painfully, but it held his weight. He ignored it and nodded. "Proceed."  
  
"Liar," Duo retorted."Left leg, Heero."  
  
"Yes," Heero agreed. He felt down Wu Fei's leg, but Wu Fei pushed him off.   
  
"I'm not an invalid, Yuy! I can still climb and I intend to," He snarled, feeling acute embarrassment.  
  
"Okay, tough man," Duo grunted. "But we go slow. If you fall and die, I'll have to blame Heero for it for the rest of our lives."  
  
Wu Fei wasn't so sure that he was joking. Heero didn't seem to think that he was. Heero tried to take hold of Wu Fei's elbow to help him. "I am not an old woman either, Yuy!" Wu Fei shook him off again. "We must reach the top at a certain time."  
  
Duo was exasperated. "Wu Fei? What's so damned important?"  
  
You are! Wu Fei wanted to shoot back, but he took a calming breath and replied, "You will see." He stepped past them and took the lead, refusing to limp.  
  
Order reversed, it was Heero's turn again to ask Wu Fei a question. It was one that completely shocked Wu Fei. "Are you attracted to Duo?"  
  
Wu Fei had though that he had successfully skirted it the first time, that Heero had accepted his dance around the subject. Why would he want Duo to know about his attraction? Was this yet another attempt to undermine his own relationship to Duo? By letting Duo know, without any doubt, how Wu Fei felt about him?  
  
"I don't want to answer that," Wu Fei replied.  
  
"Then we stop climbing, " Heero told him firmly.  
  
Heero was standing at Wu Fei's back and Wu Fei was finding it hard to turn and face either of them. Heero's solid body was warm and Wu Fei had a sudden urge to lean back and let those strong arms enfold him once more, like they had in the kitchen. Heero had the ability to offer safety with just his presence and he seemed to be offering it now, even moving forward so that their bodies touched, as if he wanted to break down Wu Fei's resolve, as if he knew Wu Fei's longing to do just that.  
  
"Heero?" Duo was shocked. "What are you getting at? If this is some sort of jealous macho shit, I'm not some freakin girl, okay? I don't need you pulling 'Mr. Your Mine' on me! I stay or go because I want to, and if I want to go screw half the planet and outer space, that's my fucking prerogative, got that? As far as Fei's concerned, of course he doesn't freakin' like me that way. I-"  
  
"I am," Wu Fei admitted. Heero let him save face for the moment by lifting him up to the next level. There was silence down in the darkness where they stood.  
  
"You...." Duo tried again, his mind trying to grasp what he had just heard. "You mean... I get it." His voice went flat. "You were 'helping' because you wanted my ass, is that it? Why didn't you just say so?" He laughed bitterly."We could have fucked at HQ and me and Heero could have taken our shit out here by ourselves."  
  
"That's not..." Wu Fei was watching his carefully laid plans crumbling. How else could it have ended? He had been arrogant, imagining himself a great sage, the one who would save them... but how could he do that when he was everything that Duo was accusing him of? It had started as a desire to 'have Duo's ass' even if he had decided to leave that desire unfulfilled. He couldn't ask for truth and healing when he was the liar, just as Duo had accused him of being, and the rot at their roots.  
  
"Let him climb," Duo snarled. "I'm going back home."  
  
"No," Heero told him, "Not until he asks his question."  
  
"What's it matter?!" Duo shouted at Heero, at Wu Fei, at the night around them.  
  
What did it matter? Why was Heero insisting? If this was what he wanted, for Wu Fei to be exposed, then he had it. Wu Fei remembered the kitchen incident. Heero's sadness, his words, 'I don't mind.', his warmth just now against his back, and his offer of strength. Wu Fei saw it then and he felt... it was impossible to describe it. He saw a door opening. He wasn't certain what was on the other side, but Heero was offering him the chance to find out.  
  
"Heero," Wu Fei asked, choking out the question. "Are you attracted to me?"  
  
Heero answered promptly, "Yes, I am."  
  
When Wu Fei reached down and Heero took his hand, the touch was electric, warm, and welcoming. He pulled Heero up and their eyes met. Heero was asking, almost begging for him to stand strong with him. Wu Fei nodded once, shaky inside and out, knowing the next moments were crucial.  
  
Duo was still down in the darkness, silent, and then he asked, "Can I ask both of you a question?"  
  
"Yes," Wu Fei agreed anxiously.  
  
Time passed. Wu Fei listened hard, so afraid that he was going to hear the sounds of Duo leaving them. Then, in a tone that told Wu Fei just how afraid Duo was, he asked, "Do you both... Do you want me, both of you?"  
  
"Yes!" Heero and Wu Fei replied and it was an answer that shuddered in the air with the strength of their emotions as they both reached down and pulled Duo up.  
  
They crouched together, just able to see each other, not sure what to say or do next. Wu Fei broke the tension.  
  
"A little more climbing. We're almost at the top."  
  
They needed to think, all of them. They agreed, without words, to forget questions and answers. They scrambled and climbed, grunting and swearing, as they struggled the last few feet to the rounded top of the hill.  
  
"Just as I thought!" Duo swore as a small lamp on a post and a flat, well worn camping spot greeted them. An easy trail, wide enough for vehicles, wound down the other side of the hill.  
  
"Baby," Heero jibed, but it lacked enthusiasm.  
  
Duo glared and that lacked heat.  
  
"The light," Wu Fei pointed out. "It needs to be turned off."  
  
Both Heero and Duo looked at him oddly and then Duo nodded. He picked up a rock and, before Wu Fei could protest, he threw it with pinpoint accuracy and smashed the light. They were plunged into darkness, so it seemed, but then their eyes adjusted and they realized that they were being bathed in moonlight. A full moon, pale and large, was sailing up from the horizon. It looked close enough to touch.  
  
"Is that--?" Duo began and then fell silent when Wu Fei smiled wanly and nodded.  
  
Heero spread out the blanket and they sat down together on it.  
  
Time passed. The cold grew.  
  
"Should have brought something warmer," Duo complained suddenly.  
  
Heero tentatively reached out and drew him against his warm, under his jacket. Duo leaned back and allowed it.  
  
After a few more moments, Duo said, "You must be freezing, Fei... I mean, not having any underwear on and all." He reached out hesitantly and pulled Wu Fei until Wu Fei was almost in his lap. Heero shifted and brought himself closer, bringing them both under his coat and the spread of his arms.  
  
"We're going to figure this out, right?" Duo asked quietly.  
  
"Yes," Heero reassured him.  
  
Wu Fei wished that he were that confident. He was at a loss, unable to see where this sudden change was going to take any of them. Heero had said that he didn't mind. Duo had repeated those words. Wu Fei had thought that they were offering each other, thinking that they were lacking in what their lover needed. The last thing that Wu Fei had considered, was that they had been offering him a place... with them both.


	9. Balance

"This one," Duo, sprawled on his bed at Preventer headquarters, pointed to an small, nondescript add in a newspaper.  
  
Heero, sitting beside him, looked down at it skeptically. "Why?"  
  
"Three bedrooms, large balcony," Duo replied.  
  
"We should call before we go," Heero suggested."Do a background check of the area. Make certain the landlord doesn't have any priors-"  
  
"Heero," Wu Fei said gently. He finished making tea in the small kitchenette and brought it to them on a tray. He put the tray on a low table, took his own cup, and sat down in a nearby chair as he gingerly sipped at it.   
  
Heero grunted. He considered his words and then said, "We'll look at it."  
  
Duo grinned in triumph, but Wu Fei cleared his throat. Duo looked exasperated and then conceded, "Uh... well, we could call first. That's a good idea."  
  
Heero was relieved. He took his tea. They sat in silence.  
  
Duo sat up and it was obvious that he was troubled and holding back. His foot made an agitated movement like an involuntary twitch and he gave out a long sigh.  
  
Wu Fei regarded him over the rim of his tea cup, waiting, knowing that Duo would reveal what was troubling him eventually. Their last few days at the cabin had been quiet. They had decided, in a mutual, unspoken agreement, to give their new awareness of each other time to develop. They had taken boat rides, hikes, and sat watching nature on the porch of their cabin, and Wu Fei had talked to them, in depth, about some of their more minor problems, the ones that he thought that he could help them over come. The rest, the deeper rooted ones, would need therapy, and it had taken every ounce of his skills of persuasion, to convince both Duo and Heero to approach the Preventer psychologist.  
  
"Could everyone stop acting like nothing happened!" Duo suddenly exploded.  
  
Wu Fei raised eyebrows sharply at Duo's sudden anger. When Duo stood up and took the tea cup out of his and Heero's hands, and put them aside, he didn't protest. Duo glared at them both, hands on hips.  
  
"Okay!" Duo said briskly. "We're back on home turf. Me and Heero are trying to learn how to express 'feelings'," he rolled his eyes, "not be so impulsive, not expect the other person to read our minds, not be afraid to say or do something wrong, not treat everything like a mission, and not... well, a lot of things... but we aren't talking about us!" He made a motion between the three of them.  
  
Wu Fei looked down, knowing how he had wanted to avoid this. "I have duties," he told them. "However I feel about you both, I will be expected to marry and to produce an heir for the Dragon Clan. It would, perhaps, be best if we remain friends and not pursue a course that is also very unconventional."  
  
Heero and Duo exchanged looks. Heero understood sacrifice and duty. Duo frowned, seeing that he was not going to get support from Heero. He reached out and grabbed Heero by his shirt collar. Heero started, wide eyed, as Duo said fiercely, "If you want to live outside of the war, Heero, you have to stop thinking you're not worth more than other people."  
  
Heero blinked, thought about that, and then nodded. Duo smiled softly at him as he said, "Wu Fei thinks he knows everything, Heero. He's going to reason himself away from us. I say we stop him, convince him that he's worth something too, worth more than being some clan's sperm bank." He snorted. "Half the colonies are populated by test tube babies. I think his clan needs to get over themselves and do the same. " He shot a hard look at Wu Fei, "Don't you think so, Chang?"  
  
"I..." Wu Fei thought about duty and honor, about a life of marriage to someone he didn't want, about living his days at the beck and call of his clan. His life had begun that way, before he had ever heard of the Gundams, and he had hated it then. He tried to imagine telling the elders that his life was his own and giving them a sperm sample. The image wouldn't come.  
  
Hands pulled at Wu Fei. He came back to himself looking into Duo's amethyst eyes as Duo guided him to the bed. Heero locked the door, shoved a chair under the knob, and set a security system.  
  
"No," Wu Fei began, but his voice trembled as Duo lay down with him, body to body, holding him tightly, even though Wu Fei was strangely finding it impossible to fight back. Duo was wearing a simple t-shirt and cotton pants, as was Heero. Wu Fei had just come off of duty and he was still in his uniform. When Duo's crotch pressed against his own, and Heero spooned up behind him, Wu Fei felt as if they were wearing nothing at all.  
  
"What are you afraid of?" Duo wanted to know. He smiled, even though his eyes remained serious. "We'll respect you in the morning, honest Fei," he joked, but then more intensely, "We care about each other. We think we're all hot. We've been secretly wanting to jump each other. What's the problem? You've been doing this dance every since we left that mountain top, like... I dunno... like you don't want to disappoint us, hurt us, or screw things up between us, but..." His hand slipped down Wu Fei's pants and he leaned close so that his hot breath tickled Wu Fei's throat as he finished, "It's our decision too. It's not like we're going to marry you, chain you up, and expect you to form some sort of alien symbiotic link with tentacles or-"  
  
"Duo," Heero sighed.  
  
Duo chuckled and it thrummed against Wu Fei's skin."I'm just saying," he amended, "That we both care about you, about each other, and we want to do you really bad, so stop with the virginal honor thing, okay?" He nuzzled. "Me and Heero have both watched things come and go in our lives, so we take what we can get when we can get it. Maybe you will go away, maybe this won't work out, but no sense in worrying about that until it happens... otherwise you miss out on some real good stuff."  
  
Duo's hand found what it was looking for , but Wu Fei took hold of his wrist and removed it. "Duo it's more to me than that."  
  
Duo snorted. "Yeah? So you were never thinking of throwing my legs over your shoulders and doing me... you know, without all the serious attachments?"  
  
"I am a man," Wu Fei admitted in embarrassment.  
  
"I know, I felt that," Duo chuckled. "So what's the deal? What are you waiting for?"  
  
Duo smelled like a spicy aftershave. It was intoxicating. His hard, wiry body and Heero's firmness behind Wu Fei, was robbing him of coherent thought. He was in real danger of.... of what? Of doing what he did really want to do? Every fiber of his body wanted to strip Duo bare and plunge into his heat, while a new part of him, that he had never suspected existed, wanted to bend to Heero's strength and let him finish what he had started in the kitchen of the cabin.  
  
"Fei," Heero murmured against the back of his neck. "I'm the one who finds it hard to talk."  
  
"I..., " Wu Fei struggled.  
  
"Love you," Duo suddenly whispered in his ear.  
  
After a moment's hesitation, Heero's voice said in his other ear, "Love you."  
  
"You've been a war buddy," Duo told him. "And you're our friend. We go together, somehow. We always do good when we're partners. You... make us balance, cancel out our bad points. We've been needing you and we didn't get it until we went on our little vacation. So, yeah, we love you, okay?"  
  
Is that what he needed? Or was it duty that was holding him back? Wu Fei warmed. He felt that connection too. Tangled together on the bed, they made a whole, and Wu Fei could sense the same balance that Duo had. Love. They loved him. They wanted him to be apart of what they had, that closeness that he had envied. Lust, love, completeness. It was everything a man could dream for, so what was holding him back, if it wasn't his duty? Wu Fei knew suddenly.  
  
"I can't do anything that is less than honorable," Wu Fei told them. "My body may want things, and my heart, but I can't live with myself letting those things rule my life. I can't live in the moment and not think of commitment and consequences. I can't forget that what I do may damage something that is precious."  
  
"Arrogant, isn't he?" Duo snorted at Heero.  
  
"Very," Heero agreed and Wu Fei could feel his smirk against his neck.  
  
"What?" Wu Fei asked, confused.   
  
"You think you can mess up what me and Heero have?" Duo replied, "Didn't you tell me that I'm not responsible for the world? You can't live your life thinking you have to sacrifice and protect everyone else either, Fei. Sometimes, you just have to trust that everything will be okay."  
  
Wu Fei was silent, frozen, trying to digest that, trying to embrace it. When Duo loosened his tie and began undoing to buttons of his uniform, he didn't protest. When Heero reached around to unbuckle his pants, he felt a surrender throughout his entire being that almost made him weep.  
  
Duo gently opened his shirt, laid him bare, and then blew a sensuous breath along the line of his throat. Wu Fei shuddered and his body responded instantly and strongly. It was done with abstinence, done with being denied, and done with logic. It wanted what it had always wanted, the slim, muscled body of the handsome man in his arms and the dominance of the man behind him.  
  
Clothes were shed and with them any lasting inhibitions. Wu Fei gave most of his attention to Duo at first, indulging in the body he had spent long nights fantasizing about. He licked, suckled, and tasted every inch of it. Duo hands were roving over him with equal enthusiasm. Duo was a laid back lover, liking the passive role, but he wasn't unresponsive. He seemed to know just how to touch, just how much warm sucking on an ear lobe, and a skilled tongue along sensitive flesh, could make a man writhe.   
  
Hands were pulling Wu Fei up and he found himself sitting between Heero and Duo. Two heads lowered themselves into his lap and he clutched at fiery cinnamon hair and dark chocolate as two talented mouths made him groan long and loud with intense sensations.   
  
Wu Fei's hand left Heero's hair and smoothed down the man's strong back, feeling scars and rippling muscles. He explored this new lover of his and found a desire that rivaled what he felt for Duo. He did want Heero, did want to explore, plunder, and submit to him. And, he admitted to himself with a smile, he wanted to love him, just as much as he wanted to love Duo. He had blinded himself to it, not imagining that he could ever have what he was being offered now by the incredible men claiming him.  
  
"Need you, Fei," Duo said as he suddenly rolled away. He reached back, body stretching sensuously as he searched under his pillow and pulled out a tube of lube. He grinned ferally at Wu Fei's wide eyes. "Unless you don't want to?" He opened his long legs, folding them back, giving Wu Fei a clear view of what lay between them.  
  
Wu Fei's brain short circuited, every hormone his body possessed screaming for him to take Duo hard and fast. He reined in that raging desire with all of his strength of will and his need not to hurt Duo. Instead of taking the proffered lube, he rose on hands and knees and went down on Duo with his mouth, intending to wait until he was certain he could control himself.  
  
"Yeah, so good..." Duo moaned as his hands guided Wu Fei up and down on his raging erection.  
  
A weight settled on Wu Fei's back and kisses and nips landed on his neck. Heero reached forward and took the lube from Duo. "Say no," Heero whispered into Wu Fei's ear, giving him that choice.  
  
Wu Fei shivered. He had never been taken. The body over his own, Heero's arms and legs on either side of him, spoke to Wu Fei on a very primal level. The nips, the hot breath against his neck, the aggressive pressing down on top of him, asked for his submission.  
  
Wu Fei lifted his hips and bent lower as he continued to swallow Duo whole; offering himself. Heero kissed him with great emotion along his cheek and then he was shifting, bending, moving so that his fingers, covered in lube, could find Wu Fei's entrance.   
  
Wu Fei heard Duo murmur, "Relax, Fei," in encouragement, but Wu Fei discovered that he wanted the thick fingers sliding into him, loosening him, and igniting his need for something more. Discomfort turned to pleasure. Heero left off tormenting him at last and his weight bore down on Wu Fei again.   
  
Wu Fei thought of animals mating and the image sent an erotic thrill through him that surprised him. Heero was very basic, very physical. He smelled of sex and pheremones and he was strength and dominance; alpha without any doubt. He mounted Wu Fei, filling him with short motions that made his erection slide in, one careful inch at a time. The sight made Duo clutch at them. He kissed them, caressed them, overwhelmed with desire for them both.  
  
Heero's motions became stronger. The sound of flesh slapping flesh, as his pelvis met Wu Fei's backside, made Wu Fei flush and want to hide his face. When he grabbed Wu Fei's hips and rose up, riding him, knees on either side of Wu Fei, the feeling of being pounded, filled, over and over again, and the sensation against sensitive nerves, sent Wu Fei to a pinnacle of pleasure that he had never attained before.   
  
Wu Fei swallowed Duo's erection again, working him with his mouth, determined to give Duo as much pleasure as he was receiving..  
  
"Oh, God!" Duo moaned. "This is... This is... Love you... God, I love you!"  
  
Duo was the first to come, throwing back his head and letting out a strangled groan as Wu Fei replaced his mouth with his pumping hand, milking Duo dry. The sight of Duo's come spilling from between his fingers, and the raw feel of Heero still thrusting in and out of him, was enough to make Wu Fei orgasm a moment later. He thrust his hips back at Heero then, taking him in completely, making Heero shout and unload hot come deep inside of Wu Fei as he shuddered and trembled on top of him.  
  
The world faded into panting breaths and thundering pulses as they lay tangled together, recovering. When senses returned, Wu Fei found Heero holding them against him, their heads pillowed on his chest. Wu Fei smoothed sweaty bangs out of Duo's eyes and Duo grinned at him, unrepentant and unselfconscious.  
  
"I never would have guessed," Duo chuckled. "You are one damned hot man, Chang Wu Fei." When Wu Fei remained quiet, Duo became instantly concerned, "You're not... not having second thoughts? I mean... you seemed to like..."  
  
"He did like it," Heero assured him, nuzzling the top of Wu Fei's head.  
  
"I..." Wu Fei thought about embarrassment, duty, propriety, and pride. He thought about love. There were truths in the world that were undeniable and Wu Fei was a wise enough man to know one of those truths when it was before his face. "I'm going to be very sore," he finished at last and Duo chuckled and looked relieved.  
  
"Small price to pay though, right?" Duo wondered.  
  
"Yes, a very small price to pay," Wu Fei agreed and felt Heero's arm tighten around him in gratitude.  
  
They held on to each other for some time, relaxing, and then Wu Fei saw Duo look up at Heero with a warmth and love that told him nothing had changed in their relationship. Heero's hand caressed Duo's cheek and then Duo was looking at Wu Fei, including him in that warmth.  
  
Duo began to say something, grinning mischievously, but the vid phone chose that moment to ring. He swore as he rolled, jerked on his pants, and then strode over to answer it, first swiveling the view screen away from his naked companions.  
  
"Maxwell, here."  
  
A man in a crisp Preventer officers uniform glared back at him and ordered briskly, "Assemble yourself, Yuy, and Wu Fei in hanger fifty six. You're mission bound in thirty minutes.... mark."  
  
The screen went blank. Duo whirled and began yanking out field cloths from a low trunk of clothes. "You heard the man," he called to the others. "Time for work."  
  
Wu Fei jumped up, hissed at the sharp pain of his backside, and then glared ruefully at Heero as Heero rolled to his feet without any trouble. The only sympathy he received was a quick squeeze on one arm, before Heero's mind switched to 'mission mode'. Then they suddenly ceased to be new found lovers. They were field agents, partners, Preventer soldiers. As Duo had said, it was time for work.


	10. Suit Up

They sat close together in the transport vehicle, touching but not looking at each other. Wu Fei, in the center, warmed and blushed in turn as he tried to come to terms with the sudden change in his life. "You're thinking too hard, " Duo said suddenly and bent to look into Wu Fei's face. "You're not very good at just enjoying yourself, are you?"  
  
"I'm aware... of consequences," Wu Fei replied, remembering the taste of Duo on his tongue.  
  
Duo made a face. "Yeah, it's great to bottom, but afterwards.... Well, what goes in must come out."  
  
Heero grunted in disgust. "He wasn't talking about that, Duo."  
  
"Oh." Duo still studied Wu Fei's shocked _expression and then he leaned back in his seat and sighed. "If this bugs you so much, Chang, we can just... well, not forget it, but..."  
  
"What?" Wu Fei asked, tensing.  
  
Duo's hands clenched on the gear lying at his feet. "I don't want to say. I don't want to give you any ideas."  
  
"It's unconventional," Wu Fei reasoned.   
  
"Yeah," Duo agreed.  
  
Heero took out his glock to check it, his hands moving over it lovingly. They both looked at him and then Duo chuckled.  
  
"We're on our way to infiltrate, probably shoot and kill, and save the day," Duo said. "I think we're pretty unconventional already." His hand moved to Wu Fei's knee and his fingers walked along it and up to Wu Fei's chest. He then grabbed a handful of Wu Fei's field jacket and gave him a shake. "Stop thinking about it and get your head back on the mission," Duo told him. "Me and Heero will convince you how much we want you when we get back home."  
  
Wu Fei nodded, feeling foolish and angry at himself for his lapse, as he pulled out their mission stats to study.   
  
Hours later, they were dropped off in the darkness miles from their target. It was a kidnaping case, a high official taken by a separatists movement. Their orders were to get the man out alive what ever it cost them.  
  
"Okay," Duo breathed as he shouldered his pack. "Booby trap time." He took out a coin from a breast pocket and flipped it. "Call it Heero."   
  
"Tails," Heero responded softly, calmer than the moment warranted. Wu Fei knew that whoever won would take point and have the higher risk of tripping the traps.  
  
"I'll take it," Wu Fei announced. He handed Heero his pack, crouched down, and began moving forward.  
  
Duo showed Heero the coin. It was heads. He nodded at Wu Fei.  
  
"Chang," Heero began.  
  
"If you must flip a coin, then your heart isn't in it," Wu Fei replied stiffly.  
  
"Are you calling us cowards?!" Duo growled, low and outraged.  
  
Wu Fei paused to look back at the shadowy forms of his comrades. "Your hearts are not willing to let each other take the risk," he amended.   
  
Two hands grabbed him by the back of his jacket and pulled him back.   
  
"What makes you think we want you to go instead?" Duo growled.  
  
Wu Fei looked at them, stunned, but then he recovered and pushed their hands off. "I am taking point," he reaffirmed and then, almost impishly, "I called it first."  
  
"Dibbs is pretty powerful stuff," Duo snorted, but then more seriously. "Fei... careful, 'kay?"  
  
Wu Fei nodded and took point again. They were in a forested area, but the ground was full of rocks and brambles. It was hard going as he slowly picked his way, looking for trip wires and pressure bombs with a handheld light.  
  
"Halt," Wu Fei ordered tensely as he picked out a slight change in the ground. He eyed it, gently brushed dead leaves aside, and saw the trigger sticking out of the dirt. Wu Fei waved his comrades aside and they moved around it.  
  
"Targets to the left," Heero suddenly whispered.  
  
They all froze, trying to hear the same thing that Heero had. It came to them then, drifting through the trees, indistinct voices.  
  
Wu Fei looked back and nodded at Duo. Duo nodded back and slipped into surrounding darkness. Duo was the best at infiltration and the best candidate to take out the guards quietly. Heero knew that as well and didn't argue. Together, he and Wu Fei crouched and waited, both of them straining their ears to pick up the slightest sound.   
  
"Done," Duo whispered and they both started at his abrupt reappearance. "Moron one was taking a pee and moron two was taking a cigarette break. Cigs kill, you know?" He laughed softly, dark and dangerous.  
  
Wu Fei went grim and Heero shifted, putting Duo between them as if he suddenly felt more protective towards Duo. They proceeded, more alert now, and Wu Fei found himself trying to divide his attention between listening and looking for traps.  
  
"We're a team," Duo whispered suddenly. "You look, Heero listens and watches our back, I take 'em out."  
  
Wu Fei nodded, angry at himself for getting distracted. He found a blade trap and three snares attached to alarms in the next few yards. That was comforting. He didn't expect the entire area to be trapped, only the perimeter. Once they were through that layer, the going would be much easier.  
  
"Sensor," Duo suddenly said. "Overhead."  
  
Wu Fei looked up and saw the tiny blink of a green light in the leaves. He lifted a scope and used it to see the crisscross of infrared light. There wasn't any way around them.  
  
"Blocked," Wu Fei announced.  
  
"Trees climbing is not my specialty," Duo grunted, but he moved off to try and take out the sensor.  
  
"He can climb. I've seen him scale sheer mountains sides," Heero assured Wu Fei softly.  
  
"I know that!" Wu Fei snorted.  
  
"Trust him," Heero told him, as if he doubted that Wu Fei did. "With my life," Wu Fei replied strongly.  
  
They both stared overhead, waiting, and then the green light flicked off. Duo grunted a little after they heard the thump of his return to earth. When he joined them, he said, sounding angry with himself, "landed wrong."  
  
"Status?" Heero demanded at once.  
  
"Left ankle. Mobile, but a liability," Duo reported through gritted teeth. "I'm loose." Which meant that they shouldn't wait for him if there was trouble.  
  
Wu Fei swore under his breath, but was forced to proceed. He discovered two more traps before there was an end to them. Wu Fei didn't let his guard drop, but he did breathe easier. Ahead, they could see the lights of the compound. "Security," Wu Fei told Duo. "You're up."  
  
Duo nodded and moved forward, his left leg held awkwardly off the ground. Heero followed him, ready to take out any guards.  
  
"Ahead, approx six yards," Heero warned.  
  
"Roger," Duo murmured back and pulled out his knife. The smell of blood came to Wu Fei's nostrils. "Clear the road."  
  
Heero grunted and moved past Duo into the darkness. Wu Fei kept his eyes and ears focused on their rear. When he heard approaching footsteps, his heart leapt in his throat. He didn't have any time for a warning. He grabbed Duo around the middle and rolled sideways into some underbrush, ignoring the slice of Duo's knife into his arm.  
  
"I have some hot coffee with my name on it waiting for me," a man sighed as he walked past, leaves crunching underfoot.  
  
"I have a hot date with Felicia in communications," another man purred. "There's perks to being out in the middle of nowhere. Gal's not got a lot of options, if you know what I mean?"  
  
The other man grunted. "We're isolated, you're not the last man on earth. Ten bucks says you get nowhere with her tonight."  
  
"You're on," The other man shot back and then they were gone into the trees.  
  
"Fei?" Duo asked very softly.  
  
"Right arm, six inch slice," Wu Fei reported through clenched teeth.  
  
"Shit!" Duo groaned and began fumbling for their med kit. He wrapped the arm as best he could in the dark and pinned the bandage tight. "Status?" Duo asked  
  
"Unknown," Wu Fei responded, knowing that it all depended on how much he bled.  
  
They had to move forward. Knowing the type of people they were dealing with, they had expected injuries and had allowed for them. Each man could carry out the mission alone. They didn't want to exercise that option, though, until there wasn't any other choice.  
  
"Clear," Heero said as he rejoined them. He led the way to a small access entrance. The bodies of the guards, and the two men who had passed by Wu Fei and Duo, were sprawled beside it. Duo stepped over them and began pulling out devices to hack through the pass locks on the door.  
  
"Fei's wounded. Knife cut," Duo told Heero.  
  
"Bandaged," Wu Fei told him shortly and Heero nodded.  
  
The door slid open. "In," Duo announced unnecessarily and then slipped in to take out a security camera.  
  
They all drew their guns. They had passed the easy part of the mission. Now they had to get through an unknown number of the enemy to rescue their man. Duo reached out. He knocked knuckles with Heero and then Wu Fei, looking at his comrades with a wide grin. "If we don't make it, it's been wild," he said, high on adrenalin.  
  
It wasn't the time for talking about love, or how much they had come to mean to each other. They knew, already, Wu Fei thought. It ran between them like electricity. He could feel it on his skin and in his heart.  
  
"Move out," Heero ordered and took point as they started down the corridor.  
  
It wasn't long before they heard someone walking towards them. They waited, breathless, and then, when the man rounded their corner, Heero grabbed him and swung him around so that he could pin the man to his chest with an arm around his throat. Duo's knife at the man's throat kept him from crying out in alarm.  
  
Duo grabbed the man's ID tags, yanked them off, and tossed them to Wu Fei. Wu Fei caught them one handed and read the man's security level. It wasn't pay dirt, but it would get them further along to their goal.  
  
"First level paper pusher," Wu Fei told his comrades.  
  
Duo dug his knife into the man's throat. "You see that blood on my knife?" he asked the man with wide, wild eyes and a wicked grin. "That's some of your friends from outside. That's so you know I'm serious when I tell you, cooperate or I'll do the same to you. Understand?" the man nodded. He was thin and pale, nose and mouth as small as his eyes. He reminded Wu Fei of an overbred poodle, with his milk pale skin and a fragile, useless build. Wu Fei curled his lip in disgust.  
  
"You're holding a man hostage," Wu Fei addressed the man coldly. "Tell us where he is."  
  
The man swallowed and Duo's razor sharp knife nicked his throat. The man closed his eyes tightly and stammered, "Th-There's a detention level for... t-troublemakers... for discipline... Two floors down... I-I don't know who you're talking about, or which room he might be in, I swear!"  
  
"Good enough." Duo patted the man on the head as if he'd completed a difficult trick and then punched him solidly in the jaw. The man crumpled into Heero's arms. Duo was frowning and adjusting his grip on his knife. "I should...," he began, but Heero interrupted him.  
  
"Not necessary," Heero told him as he shoved the man into an access panel and damaged the latch so that the man couldn't get out easily.   
  
"The weak shouldn't fight,' Wu Fei growled.  
  
"I'd feel bad about killing an idiot who just does their accounting," Duo agreed with a shrug. "He wasn't even armed."  
  
"Form up," Heero ordered, all business again.   
  
"Your lead, sweet heart," Duo quipped."Watch my ass, Fei."  
  
Wu Fei found himself smirking along with Heero as they continued into the complex.  
  
Duo's limp grew more pronounced. He stopped at one point and motioned Wu Fei to proceed him. Wu Fei, who was still gripping his wound and feeling blood seeping into the bandages, didn't think that he had any better chance to succeed than Duo. He shook his head. "We need you to get through the locks if we're going into a detention area. Once we spring our man, Heero can get him out of here." What happened to either him or Duo, Wu Fei thought, didn't matter after that.  
  
Heero nodded and Duo nodded as well after only a moment's hesitation. What would they have done alone, without him? Heero would have listened to Duo and gone on ahead, Wu Fei knew, without questioning him. Reaching the detention rooms, he would have taken a great deal longer to hack through the doors, perhaps too long. The flaw that Wu Fei had discovered in their partnership might have gotten both of them killed. With him added to the mix, he became the devil's advocate, the second opinion that they had been needing. Duo was the hacker, the stealth agent, Heero was the strength and the planner, and, Wu Fei thought, he, himself, was the brain, the one who saw the possibilities.  
  
Skeleton crew and easily defeated surveillance systems. They didn't expect that kind of ease near a detention area and they weren't disappointed when they reached it and discovered a squad of security men. Now the time for stealth was over. Now it was time to stir the ant's nest and then try to get out again alive.  
  
Duo emerged from the elevator with a grin on his face and micro bombs in both hands, while Heero and Wu Fei plastered themselves against the walls with weapons drawn.  
  
"Someone order a bomb surprise?" Duo called out. "No? Well, have it on the house, then."He tossed the bombs and dropped to the floor. The blast took out the men. Debris, and the force of the blast, roared over his head.  
  
Wu Fei and Heero fired their guns into the smoking ruin of the corridor and sprinted over Duo's prone body. Duo levered himself up and limped after them. By the time he caught up with them, they had already taken out more men in a hail of bullets. Heero and Wu Fei pulled Duo towards the first of the secure doors.  
  
Duo leaned against the door and his fingers flew over the key pad, dismantling it and using a small device to hack into it. The door sprang open and he allowed himself to stumble inside as he brought up his gun and fired at the men inside.  
  
A bullet bit into Wu Fei's wounded arm. Shallow wound, but it stung and made him gasp and blink tears. When he looked down, he saw a strip of his shirt and a small bit of his flesh missing. Blood turned his lower arm red. He ripped his shirt some more and tied the wound up while Heero and Duo took out the three men ahead of them.  
  
"Duo," Heero called and put a hand under Duo's elbow to tug him quickly to another door. Duo hacked again. The door opened. The room was empty, and so were the next two rooms. The fourth room held one occupant tied to a chair in a room with nothing else in it.  
  
"Milliardo Peacecraft, I presume?" Wu Fei said with a raised eyebrow as the blonde man lifted his head with wide blue eyes.  
  
"You're getting slow," Milliardo told them calmly. "I think I'll schedule you for some retraining."  
  
"Har, har," Duo snorted as he bent to untie the man from the chair. "Maybe you should get the retraining. You're the one they got the drop on."  
  
"Duo," Heero warned as he stood in the doorway, keeping an eye on the outside corridor.  
  
"Hurry," Wu Fei agreed.  
  
"Okay, okay," Duo sighed as he finished untying Milliardo. "Mobile?" he asked.  
  
"Fully," Milliardo replied confidently as he stood up, rubbing his wrists.  
  
"You're with Heero," Wu Fei told him. "Get moving."  
  
Milliardo looked appraisingly at Wu Fei and then Duo, seeing wounds and a leg being favored. "See you on the other side," he said in a way that was a thank you and a hope.  
  
"You're buying," Duo shot back and Milliardo gave an amused nod as he followed Heero out of there at a run. Heero was in the lead, his gun nosing for targets.  
  
"Ready to run interference?" Duo asked Wu Fei as he hooked an arm around Wu Fei's waist and brought him in close. "It's the best we can do. I don't think I can make it and you're bleeding like a stuck pig."  
  
Wu Fei looked down at all the blood and had to agree. He leaned in close and kissed Duo breifly. "Let's go."  
  
Duo looked up at the security camera and saluted it as he began to limp with Wu Fei towards the door. "Come and get us assholes!"


	11. Let's Dance

"It's all in the flick of the wrist," Duo explained as he sent small round bombs sailing down a corridor. They bounced against a wall and shot into a connecting hallway. Men screamed and several small explosions quickly silenced them.  
  
"I make a timer around the charge and then dip it into thick rubber." Duo showed Wu Fei the trigger; a small button. "Hit the button and let her fly. It's just like a ball."  
  
Wu Fei snorted as he finished rebinding his wound. "It shouldn't work."  
  
Duo touched the side of his nose impishly and winked. "But it does and that's my secret formula."  
  
Wu Fei put his good arm around Duo and they limped down the corridor, stepping around debris. Heero and Milliardo were long gone. Wu Fei and Duo had finished covering their escape. Getting out themselves seemed an impossibility now that the entire complex knew where they were, but Duo, at least, was undaunted.  
  
"They're running like rats out of trap," Duo told Wu Fei.  
  
Wu Fei eyed him as if he had lost his mind.. "Are you saying that they are running... from us?"  
  
"Yes," Duo grinned back.  
  
Wu Fei frowned. It was true that they hadn't run into the troops they had expected. "Is it a secret as well, or are you going to explain?"  
  
"They might think that a little group like ours would sneak in to get Zechs," Duo explained, "but, three men taking them on like this? Not likely. They are so damned sure that we have a force coming down on their heads, that they are bugging out of here in droves."  
  
It actually made sense. Wu Fei grunted. "I suppose they are blinded by a sense of their own importance. I'm sure they don't realize that they are considered such a low security threat, that Une didn't bother sending an actual force. She considered them a nut fringe and she's only had them on a surveillance schedule."  
  
Duo snorted, "I guess they showed her when they kidnaped Zechs."  
  
"He'll never live this down," Wu Fei agreed.  
  
"'cuz we won't let him," Duo chuckled.  
  
"You sound hopeful that we'll be around to tease him." Wu Fei paused to readjust Duo's weight. "I must inform you that I'm about to pass out."  
  
Duo's arm was suddenly around Wu Fei as well. "Okay, we have to make a plan."  
  
"Rescue?" Wu Fei sighed dejectedly.  
  
Duo frowned. "Dying might be better."  
  
"Agreed," Wu Fei replied bitterly. "I can see the report now, 'Gundam pilots defeated by third rate insurgents.' Une won't be pleased."  
  
"Sixth rate," Duo corrected glumly. "Are you sure you're going to pass out?"  
  
"Most definitely," Wu Fei assured him.  
  
Duo leaned Wu Fei against a wall and pulled out his cell phone. "Backup and evac," he said into it and didn't wait for a reply as he dropped it back into a pocket.  
  
"If you had been alone," Wu Fei wondered, "Would you have called?"  
  
Duo shook his head and then gave Wu Fei a look from under his tangled bangs. "You?"  
  
"No," Wu Fei admitted.  
  
"Is that good or bad?" Duo wondered thoughtfully. "Maybe everyone's right, that you shouldn't work with people you care about? They make you want to stay alive."  
  
"Cancel the backup," Wu Fei suddenly told him and pushed away from the wall. "We have a job to finish." He looked up and down the corridor. "I wonder where their main power supply is?"  
  
Duo laughed as he pulled out his cell phone again to make the call. "Let's show them just how sixth rate they really are."   
  
\+   
  
"You with me, Fei?" Duo was in his face, shaking him a little. "We have to get out of here. This place is gonna blow."  
  
Wu Fei blinked stupidly, not sure how he had ended up sitting on the floor. "Charges set?" he slurred and peered blearily at the thrumming generators all around them.  
  
They had forced their way in and hadn't met anything but minimal resistance. Wu Fei was certain they could get out again just as easily, if he could only stay conscious long enough and keep his feet under him.  
  
"Charges set," Duo confirmed. "We have ten minutes, max, to clear the perimeter of the blast." It was then that Wu Fei noticed that Duo was sitting on the floor. "Fei," Duo told him anxiously. "My ankle swelled up... I can't walk, man." Yet he had set the charges anyway, counting on Wu Fei to pull off a miracle, only Wu Fei was almost certain that there wouldn't be one.  
  
Center. Concentrate Wu Fei used every technique that he had learned from masters to bring his body back under his command. He would pay for it. It might kill him. Saving Duo was worth the risk, though.  
  
Adrenaline pumping, Wu Fei stood, swayed, hooked a hand under Duo's elbow, and pulled the startled man to his feet. "We have to hurry," Wu Fei gritted out. "Shoot anything that moves."  
  
"Roger," Duo replied through his pain as they limped out of the maintenance room and began making their way out of the complex.  
  
Wu Fei was counting seconds in his head, his vision narrowed down to the floor in front of his feet, trusting Duo to clear the way for them both. He simply had to walk... and keep walking, keep carrying the man he loved out of there.  
  
Strong arms were going around them both suddenly and Heero's welcoming warmth and scent were close at hand. Wu Fei silently said a prayer of thanks to his ancestors while he cursed Heero aloud. "You are jeopardizing our mission! Your job was to get Zechs out of here."  
  
"He's clear," Heero replied, irritated that Wu Fei would doubt him.  
  
"Heero!" Duo exclaimed. "We gotta get out of here! This place is gonna blow any minute!"  
  
Heero shoved to their center and held onto them both as he half carried them down the corridor as fast as he could manage. Wu Fei's mental clock was ticking down to seconds. The corridors were confusing and he was weakening. He wasn't sure if they had cleared the perimeter.  
  
"That way! Shortcut!" Duo exclaimed. "Reinforced walls."  
  
Heero steered them down a connecting hallway.  
  
Wu Fei's mental timer ticked the seconds down to zero. He shouted, "Cover!"  
  
Heero pulled them down flat near a wall.  
  
The complex heaved and the force of the explosion deafened them. After the debris settled, they sat up shakily. Heero scowled and complained, "You always use too much charge, Duo."  
  
Duo scowled. "Better too much than not enough."  
  
Wu Fei continued to sprawl on the floor. Heero bent over him in concern. "Chang?"  
  
"Argue later," Wu Fei grumbled. "I'd like a hospital now, please."  
  
"Hospital?" Duo snorted. "Getting soft in your old age?"  
  
"No," Wu Fei muttered as Heero helped him up. "Just remembering how terrible you are at stitching wounds."  
  
"You were damned happy about my skills during the war when you-" Duo began hotly.  
  
"Later," Heero cut him off. "We observed personnel from the complex bugging out. I contacted backup and ordered them to mop up. Zechs was taken to safety and I returned here. There are still enemy personnel on site, though, so I suggest-"  
  
Duo chuckled. "Would you listen to Heero. That's more words than he's said in years. I think you're good for us Fei."  
  
"Two men who talk too much, instead of one. I'm not sure that's an improvement," Wu Fei growled, but he was unable to stifle a smile.  
  
"Fuckers!" A voice shouted up ahead, furious, and machine gun fire came from a connecting hallway. "I'm going to kill you! All of you!"  
  
Duo started to push himself away from them as he tossed an explosive, but Wu Fei caught him around the waist and pulled him along with Heero against a wall, for whatever cover it could give them. The explosive bounced against a wall and shot into the corridor occupied by their enemy. Wu Fei felt a bullet clip his thigh and his cheek, heard Heero snarl in pain, and then he was hitting the wall and falling into darkness.  
  
\+   
  
"Drink," Duo said as he held out his hand.   
  
Heero took a bottle of water from a cooler by the bed and tossed it across Wu Fei to where Duo was lying on his other side. Duo caught it deftly, opened the bottle, and took a drink.  
  
"Must we watch these vid game shows?" Wu Fei complained to his two bed companions..  
  
"Movie instead?" Heero suggested as he eased his bandaged shoulder.  
  
"Not the kind Duo enjoys," Wu Fei protested.  
  
Duo tipped the bottle of water towards Wu Fei's lips. "Drink?"  
  
"Yes," Wu Fei replied and Duo helped him drink.  
  
"Just because I like to watch slasher movies...," Duo began.  
  
Wu Fei eyed him.   
  
Duo relented. "All right. What do you want to watch?"  
  
Wu Fei smiled. "Nothing."  
  
"Boring," Duo complained.  
  
"Doesn't have to be," Heero told him with a smirk.  
  
Duo went wide eyed. "Here? Now? Fellahs, I have to tell you, I'm not exactly mobile with my ankle in a brace. And you." He glared at Wu Fei. "Since you have bullet and knife wounds, do you mind telling me exactly what you're going to do with two messed up arms? As for Heero, he's out for the count with a bullet wound in his shoulder."  
  
"Duo, we're a team," Wu Fei explained. "Teamwork."  
  
"Teamwork," Duo repeated. "Okay, so what's our orders then?"  
  
Heero's smirk grew. "I like that."  
  
"Wu Fei giving us orders, you mean?" Duo chuckled. "Maybe I do too."  
  
"Anyone on pain pills?" Duo wanted to know. "A chorus of negatives greeted that question. "Good, can't dock with booster inhibitors in your systems,"he snickered.  
  
"This is not a good idea," Wu Fei protested. "Heero's shoulder, your ankle, my arms... someone will get hurt."  
  
Duo sighed, flipped the blanket aside, and then gingerly sat astride Wu Fei's hips. "Why Fei, is that a rocket going critical under me or are you lying?"  
  
Wu Fei made a face, blushing. "I didn't say that I didn't desire-"  
  
Duo reached and retrieved a bottle of lube. He showed it to Wu Fei. "I have a perfect way to pass the time, Fei. I can sit. You can lay there. Heero can use one arm and most of his body."  
  
Wu Fei turned a deeper red. "What are you suggest-"  
  
"Less talk, more tango," Duo grinned as he squirted lube into his hand. He tossed the tube to Heero who began putting some on his own hand. Wu Fei swallowed hard. "Come on," Duo urged him. "Nothing to be shy about. Nobody here but us. You know you want to... so let's make love."  
  
Love. It's the word Wu Fei needed. This wasn't just sex. This wasn't breaking all convention and common sense to relieve sexual need. This was love. "If..." He cleared his throat and tried again. "If anyone starts feeling pain, then we stop."  
  
Duo frowned. "Of course," he agreed. "I think that's a given, don't you?" He leaned close and looked into Wu Fei's eyes. "I think you're calling the shots, though. You were the worst. Three days in bed might not be enough."  
  
Heero was kissing Wu Fei's neck. Wu Fei shivered and moaned, especially when. Duo rubbed himself against his erection. Wu Fei made a decision, he turned slightly so that Duo didn't have to put weight on his ankle and Heero had access. It was hard not to feel a touch of embarrassment, of shame, at doing something so decadent, but Wu Fei loved the men in bed with him. He wanted them, wanted their closeness. It over rode all of his inhibitions and his body's own weariness.  
  
"Partners," Wu Fei whispered as he felt Heero's lubed fingers at his entrance.  
  
"Partners," Heero agreed as he slid in a finger and worked to prepare him.  
  
"Partners," Duo echoed as he slicked lube onto Wu Fei's raging hard on.  
  
Heero pushed in. Wu Fei gasped, but tilted his hips to take him in completely. Heero sucked and bit lightly on his shoulder, his neck, and clasped him around the waist with his good arm to hold him steady as he began moving in and out.  
  
Duo tilted to the side, and balanced on his good knee, as he pushed Wu Fei's erection into himself with a groan. Their first time. Wu Fei felt his eyes water as he sank into Duo's heat. He wanted to grab him, posses him as Heero was possessing him, but Wu Fei's arms were both wrapped and too sore. He had to rely on the snap of his pelvis, and Duo's own motions, to drive his needy cock in and out of his new lover. The feeling of being impaled and being sunk deep in Duo, all of them writhing in rhythm to bring their bodies to completion, was nirvana. Wu Fei didn't want it to end. He wanted to stay on that pinnacle of feeling, that tremendous feeling of being one with the two men with him.  
  
A body could only take so much, though, and Heero came, hot wetness filling Wu Fei as he voiced a primal groan in Wu Fei's ear. Wu Fei twisted to kiss him, deep and long, and then Heero was sliding out. Wu Fei was free, then, to roll and pin Duo beneath him. Fuck arms, fuck pain, fuck Duo.   
  
"I'm teaching you bad language," Duo breathed, letting Wu Fei know that he had spoken his thoughts aloud. Duo hitched his legs up and kept his bad ankle out of harms way. That left him spread beneath Wu Fei and Wu Fei took full advantage.  
  
Arms over their heads, but throbbing at his thrusting motions, Wu Fei rode Duo, filled him completely again and again, and almost howled when he came with an explosion of come and an incredible sensation that shook him from head to toe. He wanted to collapse on Duo, but Duo wasn't to be denied his pleasure. He shifted and gently settled Wu Fei onto his back again. He felt Wu Fei's chest as if gauging his heart rate.  
  
"Okay?" Duo asked.  
  
Wu Fei nodded as Heero pressed against his side again.  
  
"My turn, then," Duo said with a grin as he lay sideways over them both and presented his needy erection. "Oh, God!" he exclaimed when both men began devouring and licking him. "You two have no idea how good this looks," he groaned.  
  
"Looks good from here, too," Heero mumbled.  
  
They brought Duo to completion, both of them milking him as he shuddered and bit back a cry as his orgasm overwhelmed him.  
  
Panting and spent, they curled together as best they could with their injuries.  
  
"Okay?" Duo asked again and everyone hummed affirmatives. "Liars," Duo snorted. "That hurt like hell... but it was worth it because it felt damned good too."  
  
"I'm not sure Sally Po would think of that as part of her prescription for recovery," Wu Fei said. "But... the hell with her." He smiled into Heero's wide eyes as the man held him close.  
  
"I'm corrupting him completely," Duo snickered as he snuggled against Wu Fei's chest.  
  
"I think I needed to be corrupted," Wu Fei replied. He kissed Heero and then Duo. "Otherwise I would never have found where my true home lies, where the missing pieces of my soul have been residing. It's here, with you, with both of you."  
  
The End


End file.
